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.
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