It's not just politicians and officials in Panama who are corrupt; there is a lot of corruption in journalism too. At the top there are the undisclosed conflicts of interest, like when La Prensa campaigned for Martin Torrijos and its director, Federico Humbert, got appointed as Panama's ambassador to the US when Torrijos indeed won the elections. And at the bottom there are, obviously, the bottom feeders, the mercenaries-for-hire, the amarillos who publish whatever you want them to write for a fistful of dollars in "newspapers" like La Critica and El Siglo.
One of the latter is one Omar Wong Wood. I first heard about him when Tomas Cabal paid him to publish articles favorable of Marc M. Harris in La Critica. Then, after I exposed Tom McMurrain and his San Cristobal noni swindle, Wong was paid by Cabal to publish stories about yours truly. It was part of a wider smear campaign that eventually died down when McMurrain was arrested and thrown in the slammer.
Years later, in 2008, Omar Wong got in a bit of trouble. By then he was running his own rag, El Periodico, reportedly financed by the Waked family, when he somehow obtained and published the tax records of Waked's enemy, real estate tycoon Herman Bern. Bern was not amused and sequestered the newspaper. Most of Panama's civil society cried "press freedom", but we thought it was just part of the menu if you go into the media mercenary business and didn't feel sorry for him. Wong was upset about that.
So that passed too, and according to his LinkedIn profile, Omar Wong now works at the press office of the Maritime University.
But guess what? Out of the blue, Mr. Wong just started sending me puzzling messages through Facebook. It started with one line in which he said that he hoped to meet with me. Asked why, he did not want to elaborate, but continued to insist that he would meet with your reporter. Eventually he sent this:
Supongo que no lo tiene, pero a diferencia suya yo sí, así que espero con mucho deseo encontarlo en mi camino.... Ojalá sea pronto. Ese día le informaré -de una forma muy directa- mis razones.
And then this, after I asked him why the fear of saying what he wanted to talk about:
¿Miedo? de qué habla usted señor. No, no se trata de miedo. Esta usted abismalmente equivocado. Al contrario, tengo unos desesos muy grandes y fuertes de verle y decirle mis razones, pero por tratarse de usted, quien es una personal muy especial, prefiero decir esas razones -que al parecer lo agobian-, personalmente. Y sé que esa oportunidad se dará muy pero muy pronto. No tiene idea con cuantas ansias anhelo ese momento. No tiene la menor idea, pero lo sabrá. No pierda más su tiempo haciendo preguntas innecesarias, solo sepa que nos veremos pronto y podrá usted discipar las dudas que al parecer le embargan. Tenga buena tarde, "distinguido señor" Orntein.
And then he got angry and acting crazy, sending various messages:
Le insisto, usted no querrá reunirse conmigo, pero yo preciso hacerlo con usted. No me interesa, para nada, concertar cita alguna con usted. Simplemente nos encontraremos en Vista Alegre, en Amador, en Vía Argentina en Chepo, en cualquier lado y yo, personalmente aprovecharé para que todo su ser escuche lo tengo que decirle.
(...)
Hoy como nunca, estoy empeñado en verlo. Y creame, cuando me propongo algo lo consigo. Me he propuesto hoy decirle mis razones y así será. Tenga una excelente tarde.
And on and on he went. I told him that I make my money honestly and have no time for his locuras. To which he responded:
Nos veremos y por favor, digame esas mismas palabras. Se lo ruego, repitalas cuando me tenga frente a frente.
Gracias a Dios en Panamá, en mi rango de trabajo, todos sabemos quien es quein. Y para nadie es un secreto que usted además de ser un coimero, chantajista, lavador, extorcionardor, ruin y persona asquerosamente sin escrúpulos, es la basura más grande que ha parido su país. Bueno por lo menos eso entiendo.
Mi conciencia esta limpia, la suya? uN ABRAZO
(...)
Podria decirme donde estará esta noche que tengo algunos documentos que quiero entregarle de mis supuestos socios, Marc Harris, Tom y Waked. Eres usted un miserable cobarde Okke, de la cara, no se escudes detrás de la mentira y la calumnia. Es usted una basura de ser humano. Pero aún así le sigo teniendo mucho aprecio.
So, you tell me, dear reader, are these threats? What is wrong with this character?
Stay physically away from that clown.
A good psychiatrist for him, maybe? They have done amazing things with medications in the last few years.
He wants to serve you with court papers is my guess. Probably from your new friend in Chiriqui with the cars. I wouldn’t go near such a person who appears off his rocker for any reason at all. Life’s too short!
WOW, total nutjob. Interesting how he calls you all the names in the book and then says “Bueno por lo menos eso entiendo.” of course he does.
He actually sounds dangerous, mentally and otherwise. I forget the name of this, but you can request through the coregidor, based on these threats, that the person stays away from you. Something “fianza de paz”. All filed though your attorney of course. And the beauty is that you dont have to pay to translate the emails 🙂
Yeah, I think it’s called a “boleto de proteccion”, a kind of a restraining order. I had two of those against Don Winner for some time and one against Clyde Jenkins. It means, “don’t come near me or go to jail”.
Stay Away!!!
Block him from your FB. The best thing to do is ignore this guy. Let him talk his smack.
He sounds like a fatal attraction. If you won’t see me I’ll kill you, I’ll kill myself and I’ll kill your daughter’s rabbit! Better not meet with him. Especially not in Chepo!