Dear Mr. President

By The Boss on Mar 25, 2008 | In Politics | 3 feedbacks »


Are Brazilians smarter than Torrijos?

Ever been to Brazil? Economically, it's not that different from Panama. GNP per capita is in the same league. Income disparity is as bad there as it is here.

But why then, is it that we have buses that fall apart, buses that blow up in Via España or crash in demolition derbies on the Transistmica while in for example the Brazilian city of Curitiba - roughly the same size as Panama City - they have one of the most advanced public transport systems in the world? Can you explain that? In other words, who in your government - and the previous ones - of robber barons and Noriega drinking buddies isn't doing his job? And why is Bimbin only now talking about a metro after ignoring the problems for ten years?

Another question. Here's an interesting statistic for you. Panama has 500 policemen per 100,000 citizens. That is MORE THAN ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE AMERICAS. Costa Rica is a good second with 465 cops/100,000, and the US is fourth with 326. I found that in the 2007 UN report "Crime and Development in Central America". So here's the question: Why do we need more police? Aren't these figures a clear indication that if we have a crime and security problem in Panama, Mirones, Delgado Diamante and the other chieftains aren't doing their jobs? It can't be that they're short on manpower.

Tags: buses, crime, crime myth, curitiba, police, public transport, stupid government, torrijos
Comment from: panagringo [Visitor]
maybe we can use one of those new-but-used garbage tricks, er...trucks that
our esteemed Mayor has purchased from Mexico (of course, he didn't make any money on that deal) so they can double as public transportation. I mean, they smell about the same and break down about the same so why not use them?
03/26/08 @ 10:31
Comment from: gregorio [Visitor]
Re:Crime in Panama. As a U.S. citizen that spends about 2-3 weeks a year in Panama, I must express both(1)an alarm at the current level of violent crime in the City and interior and (2)an admission that the insatiable U.S. appetite for cocaine has a lot to do with that violence. Smuggling routes that primarily ran through the Caribbean 2 decades ago now go through Panama and Mexico. Does Panama bear some of that responsibility? Indeed. It's very disturbing to witness millions/billions of narco dollars being washed in its banks and condo projects. It's equally unsettling to read stories of police conspiring with traffickers to move drug shipments north. To me, though, the saddest truth is that the root cause of so much crime, corruption, death in Panama really is to be found in the addictions of several million hard-core drug users in the U.S.
03/29/08 @ 11:47
Comment from: Big Brother [Visitor] Email
Because "El Presidente's" uncle, Monchi Torrijos, a drunk that used to urinate in front of young girls when he came home drunk to his home in "El Casco ViejO" unmade a deal that was made with a company he made it so that his company in Spain would get it. Reember those huge Ruta 2 y Ruta 1 buses. That is what Monchi Torrijos gave us when he was Ambassador in Spain.
Another tidbit is that no Panamanian in his right mind should buy concert tickets, cds, records or anything of Julio Iglesias because Monchi Torrijos helped him be a singer cuando era un Don Nadie and he must be getting "buco billete" from that investment.

As usual the Torrijos gene is a vende patria gene.
05/01/08 @ 11:58

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