Rampant speculation in Panama about the True Reasons for the sudden resignation of Foreign Affairs minster Fernándo Núñez Fábrega. One theory had it that he wasn't promoting the image of our beloved crime boss president Ricardo Martinelli forcefully enough abroad. Then it was said that he screwed up with the negotiations to get the Canal expansion fiasco resolved.
And now newspaper La Estrella has come up with yet another theory. Nuñez had launched something called the General Directorate for Anti-Terrorism Analysis, without consulting about that with the Guardia Nacional minister of Security Raúl Mulino. So then the National Police/Gustavo Perez minister ordered him out, just to show who calls the shots in our tiny toy nation.
But then we read on, to find that this anti-terrorism analysis directorate is headed by none less than our old friend Tomás Cabal.
Oh, brother.
Cabal has a long and sordid history of working as a PR flack for crooks, criminals and con men. Really, he makes Don Winner look like an amateur.
In fact, the minister and Cabal worked together in the defense of rogue bank Banaico that went down in a mega-scandal involving druglords, money laundering, and a "mortgage" for Cabal that he somehow never had to repay.
He went on to provide his services for people like career fraud artist Tom McMurrain, Marc M. Harris and the people behind PECC, a sham company that bribed officials and bilked the state for millions in "contracts" for the maintenance of buoys and lighthouses in Panama. Among other things, he'd pay corrupt local journalists like Omar Wong to publish bullshit articles in favor of his clients in such outlets as La Critica and El Siglo.
In between all these activities he appeared to be doing some free-lance work for US politicians and some three-letter-agency as well, traveling for example to Suriname to write a report on drug trafficking for a shadowy American yet Munich based "research institute".
You want more? We wrote about this character, Tomas Cabal, earlier, here.
And this guy is now an anti-terrorism analyst? Muhahahahaaaa! Or was, rather, because no doubt he will soon be following the footsteps of his Banaico buddy Nuñez Fabrega. Hey Cabal! How about analyzing Monte Friesner's plans to do illegal business with Iran, did you analyze that yet? Or is he a client?
Dear reader, it is often doubted, but Panama is really a very democratic country, with lots of upward mobility on the social ladder. Anyone can become anything in the government here. The scum also rises.