Since our visionary maximum leader, il Duce Martinelli, rammed this so-called "sausage law" through the assembly, our heroic national police has become increasingly creative in cooking up new funky schemes for fun and profit. And so, after the Battle of Bocas, the magician tricks with Valentín Palacios, human trafficking and the vice squad raiding dangerous schoolgirls in underwear, they've now introduced a new attraction to the numerous great things the mountain village of Boquete has to offer: Beat up environmentalists!
Boquete, dear readers, is an immensely popular destination for tourists and retirees who visit the small town and its surroundings primarily because of its stunning natural beauty. These nature loving visitors can choose from an endless list of paths to follow, rivers to raft, birds to watch and comfortable hotels to spend the night. But for the local authorities, this was apparently not enough. They thought that was was needed was more lively entertainment, más movimiento, as they say in Panamanian. Or: Bring the successful Bocas concept to other tourism destinations as well!
And so it happened that this Monday morning the 20st, the known local nature-lover Carmencita Tedman woke up, only to discover that some men with heavy machinery were busy to illegally construct a road on her property. Obviously she protested, and soon the corregidora arrived, with the police. A corregidor, for who doesn't know this, is the lowest level judicial authority in the country. They usually do not have a legal background, don't know the law, and are easy to bribe. No doubt this one in Boquete, one Walkiria Castillo, had been handsomely rewarded for her services by those behind the illegal road construction, because even for these most retarded members of the judiciary it is unusual to order the police to beat someone up - yet that is exactly what she did. And so the policemen - one of them listening to the name Osvaldo Cerracin - being the brain dead gorillas they are, beat her up. For good measure they threw in some pepper spray as well, because anyone knows that nature lovers are dangerous! See the picture gallery below.
So, retirees and tourists, from now on: Hide your binoculars, your birding guidebooks, walking gear and everything else that might mark you as a lover of Boquete's natural beauty! After all, it is much more fun to see others being hit with those tropical hardwood sticks than to undergo the Boquete police treatment yourself.
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The coregidor is not part of the police force. So this woman can sue her for abuse of authority for sending the police to beat her up and have her suspended pretty quickly, if the story went down as told..
The new law, which I understand is in suspended animation while it is being “revisited”, does not preclude you from suing the police either by the way, what it does, is let them stay on active duty while the situation is being investigated. Boquete is too much of a tourist/expat magnet for this to be left without consequences.
Yes, she can sue, file complaints, and so on. And the first place to go is the mayor of Boquete, who appoints the corregidores. Fat chance. Or a complaint would end up in our public ministry, managed by Bonissi loyalists. The real issue here is not so much this abuse, but the fact that in situations like these, there is nowhere to go.
Polize(tas)… protect the Gang capos instead of citizenship…
@frombocas,
With all due respect; suing a public official in Panama is worse than a lost cause. It will subject one to more abuse from other government offices.
In 2003 filed a criminal complaint against a health inspector for coming to my business( a garage) once an week for “special inspections”.
After which I received visits from the police and immigration. The police didn’t come to get details of my complaint…They came to inspect my premises for untold criminal activity. I refused and told them to get a warrant.
They didn’t come back, but I got the message loud and clear. Report a crime in Panama and more than likely you’ll be the one who ends up in jail. All this happened in the good old days when the police were still relatively tame.
I don’t think many people yet realize how rotten the government and especially the criminal justice system is here.
@Faustino, this is what happen about 5 years ago – The governor was chummy with a person involved in a land dispute. The governor ordered the sheriff to send police take down two ranchos on the piece of land in disoute, occupied by a friend of mine. The friend sued both the corregidor and the governor. Later the friend dropped the suit against the corregidor when it was proven she was acting at the order of the governor who was sued for extralimite de su funcciones y abuso de autoridad. The governor lost his ob and was prohibited to hold any public office for several years. He did not go to prison because my friend did not want to push their luck. I can get the names for you and you can check for veracity if you would like. This is a true story. Sometimes the system does work.
@frombocas: It ONLY works if the complaint coincides with other prevalent political interests. Otherwise it’s just a roulette: The bank always wins.
“Yes, she can sue, file complaints, and so on. And the first place to go is the mayor of Boquete, who appoints the corregidores. Fat chance. ”
Absulutely correct. In my case the the corregidora (yes the same Walkiria) had done absolutely nothing against an abuser over months, probably her compinche politico. When I complained with the mayor, but he did nothing either. They are both from the same party and protect each other. In another case relatives of the mayor had sold a lot including a public road, which they could not have sold. The new owner closed the road and the neighbour complained in the corregiduria. Nothing happened, the corregidora denied that the road was public although the maps clearly show it.
Both are panameñistas which are allies of Martinelli’s CD. There will probably not happen much if Carmencita sues her, the whole juridic system is corrupt. Even if she is lucky and finds a judge who is not corrupt and judges against W.C., the case will just go to the next level and the higher they get, the more are the judges controlled by the government.
Well we wont know until she does, and apparently she has, so we will see. You may all be right, but I still think she should do it. The mayor is not the end of the line in this process. She may have both civil and penal cases going. By the time these go through the system, we may have a new government. But to do nothing because it is useless would be irresponsible in my opinion. Once in while people do get punished so they can show that indeed they do not accept corruption, bad behavior, whatever. Yes of course the bank always wins, but you need to have some customers win too.
I don’t buy that story… I don’t see any evidence that this particular “nature-lover” has been beaten up by police. Actually, what I see are policemen helping her up – not beating her up. The eyes rings on her face suggest that she had perhaps too many drinks on-the-rocks and subsequently fell off-the-rocks. Her arms suggest that she was bitten by mosquitos – not beaten by policemen. As for the pictures of bruised legs, since we don’t see the face of the person they pertain to, they could be the legs of anyone, couldn’t they (?)
@XIO I think it is possible she was roughened up during her resisting arrest. Reading the Prensa, which actually covered the incident in details, it sounds like she was mouthing off to the Sherriff.. I think this will get you arrested in almost any country I can think off. I dont think the legs pix are anyone’s but hers. What did she say to bring this about? I guess it all depends on how thick skinned the corregidora is – it probably would not take much especially if she has already pissed off these people. I could see doing something like that in the heat of the moment and sure would hate to have it happen to me…So unless she called Walkiria (cant believe this name!) some whore vende patria…it was excessive to have her arrested given the circumstances.
@Xio,
Blame the victim. A typical wife beater mentality.
So to you, it is acceptable to peper spray and rough up a private citizen who is angry because heavy equipment is ripping up her property. Whether she is in the right or wrong doesn’t justify this level of force.
This behavior, like that in Bocas and Isla Viveros indicates that Panama is moving farther from civilization every day. And your comment about her being a drunk is disgusting. You will fit in well in the new Panama.
@Faustino: Some readers are more gullible than others. Admittedly, I am more skeptical than the average consumer of Bananama Republic News. Incidentally, my suggesting that perhaps this particular nature lover had too many drinks was not meant to be derogatory. Au Contraire, I meant it as a valid excuse for mouthing off “corregidora Walkiria von dem Ring des Niebelungen” …
@Xio: The what yopu call “average consumer” of Bananama Republic is a highly skeptical individual who refuses to accept as truth what most of the mainstream news outlets pass off as “news”.
As to your comments: If someone claims to have been pepper-sprayed, the police doesn’t deny that, and then the victim shows up in a picture with reddish eyes, that makes a pretty consistent version of events for me. What you suggest, on the other hand, is just made up out of thin air. You don’t have anyone who was there who backs up your suggestions, nobody else has alleged alcohol being involved, it’s just nasty smear. That’s not skeptical, it’s malicious.
Of course you are free to believe or not believe what you want. But the strength of the comments usually posted here is that if people disagree, they build their case based on facts. I like, even encourage, skepticism. What I will not tolerate is people posting smear without even putting their name to it.