In 2007 it was the PRD government of Martin Torrijos which, with the appointment of Noriega-era memorabilia Pedro Miguel González Pinzón as president of the National Assembly prevented the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) from being ratified by the US.
Of course our new leader, SuperPresident Martinelli99, couldn't stay behind. And he succeeded! Today, La Prensa reports that we can forget it for this year. One reason is the congressional elections in the US. And the other? Martinelli.
That is, it appears that the way il Duce is managing affairs is not seen in a favorable light up North. La Prensa quotes Democratic Senator Chistopher Dodd, who warns that respecting the independence between the executive branch and the judicial branch is important if Panama wants the agreement ratified:
Su Constitución es muy clara en eso. El sector de parlamentarios y el Ejecutivo son independientes al Judicial.
You can't get a clearer reference to Martilini's ousting of Attorney General Ana Matilde Gómez by embracing a former prosecutor who was running an extortion racket. 'You want your FTA, then cut this shit', is basically what Dodd told the Panamanians.
Dodd also referred to the lack of judicial security that has given Panama a reputation of "anything goes" (and that attracts herds of crooks and con men and their shady promoters to the country). "If Panama wants that more business comes to this country, it needs to respect contracts and agreements", Dodd was quoted as saying by La Prensa.
Well a bit of good news for Panama. NO FTA for awhile!!! That means that we still have some freedoms and privacy left before the USA completely takes Panama over. Not that Czar Martinelli hasn’t tried his best to impose US type of Marshall law here and still doesn’t have a Minister of Immigration thats worth a shit.
You pro FTA types out there… all you need to do is look at other nations that were sucked into the FTA. They since have come to understand that they have lost most, if not all, of their sovereignty. They now are subject to the laws and regulations of the US. Hence you now have a number of major nations backing out of those bogus FTA agreements or at the least looking for modifications.
All the hoopla over “transparency” or otherwise known as “drop your pants and let me have a look”. This is nothing more than having CONTROL over those nations and more importantly expats living in those Countries.
Most of that nonsense is under the guise of the “WAR ON DRUGS” or “ANTI TERRORISM” or the always catchy “MONEY LAUNDERING” excuses. All catch phrases used for effect, when trying to justify the taking of rights and freedoms from citizens.
So, again a breath of relief and hopefully the death knell for the FTA. Keep it up Senator Dodd and the rest of your cronies who of course are beyond reproach for their honesty.
Enjoy your limited freedoms…..for NOW.
Hear, Hear for Jim In Panama! If anyone looked around, they would see that they countries that signed on to an FTA have been screwed.
Por ejemplo, El Salvador is being sued by a Canadian Gold Mining company in a US court for violation of CAFTA because the new government in El Salvador revoked the mining permits for Pacific Rim Mining. It seems that the indigenous folks didn’t realize that gold mining was going to dump cyanide and mercury into their aquifers and now they have no drinking water. When they started to protest, their leaders all committed suicide with multiple bullets in the back from a distance beyond powder burn range.
So, the government revoked the mining permits. Hey, you’re wondering, how does a Canadian company sue under CAFTA when Canada is not a party to CAFTA. Well, Pacific Rim happens to have this little dormant company incorporated in the US that does nothing except serve as a vehicle to get Pacific Rim into a US court. In all likelihood, Pacific Rim will be tossed on its ass, but in the meantime, El Salvador is spending big bucks on legal defense and faces the prospect, however remote, of losing. Great things those FTA’s, huh?
But, don’t worry, Panama is keeping right up with El Salvador. Petaquilla Mining, which is doing its best to poison Cocle province, just got its permits, event thought it has NEVER completed ANY of the required testing to demonstrate that its not going to kill half of Cocle province. Don’t you folks feel lucky that you elected Il Duce? Now you too can drink cyanide laced water.