Torrijos postponed a decision about what to do about public transport. Torrijos says his government stole all the money doesn't have any money to improve the bus system. Torrijos shits his pants for the group of road terrorists who own the buses and will kill for money. The united passengers are angry about it. La Prensa basically calls him a moron.

They're right, of course, but what did they expect from a man who is too much of a coward to investigate the death of his own father?

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.

Some people are complaining about public transport in Panama City. Nonsense. We probably have the fastest buses in the world! Compite Panama!

That, of course, comes with a price, which we should be willing to pay if we value on-time delivery of passengers. A bus may catch fire. Or, in its urge to get there first, capsize, break in half and leave many dead and wounded. The one in the picture, for example, was racing against a competing bus - the wonders of the free market system! - to get at the next stop primero, but didn't quite make it. Passengers were screaming "stop the bus!" and "go slower!" before the crash, killing two and leaving 31 wounded. That's what you get when you distract the driver from his work. No arrests have been made however.

None of this should be any reason not to send your children to school by public transport.