Terrorista posible presidente de la Asamblea

ID DOC: 113006

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FECHA: 0000-00-00 00:00:00

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FUENTE: Embassy Panama

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PRIVACIDAD: CONFIDENTIAL

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REFERENCIA: VZCZCXYZ0000OO RUEHWEBDE RUEHZP #1053 1722056ZNY CCCCC ZZHO 212056Z JUN 07FM AMEMBASSY PANAMATO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0667INFO RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVERUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE 0007RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0279

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C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 001052



SIPDIS



SIPDIS



E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2017

TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PTER, KCRM, PM

SUBJECT: PANAMA POST: EDITION II



REF: PANAMA 1035



Classified By: POLCOUNS Brian R. Naranjo. Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d).



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Summary

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1. (U) Welcome to edition II of the Panama Post! We hope

that our readership will enjoy the following items and that

they will enhance your understanding of Panama's political

environment:



-- Terrorist possible next National Assembly President;

-- Balbina Herrera may be Revolutionary Democratic Party

(PRD) nominee for president;

-- Catholic prelate calls for social justice; and

-- Paving the way to another PRD victory.



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Terrorist Possible Next National Assembly President

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2. (C) Pedro Miguel Gonzalez would be the next President of

the National Assembly, PRD National Executive Committee (CEN)

Member Samuel Buitrago said on June 20, confirming rumors

that the Panama Post has been hearing. Ineligible for a visa

for his terrorist activity, Gonzalez is wanted in the U.S.

for the 1992 murder of U.S. serviceman Zak Hernandez.

Buitrago acknowledged that the PRD CEN had discussed and

greenlight Gonzalez's candidacy. Asked by the Panama Post

how, of the forty plus PRD deputies, the PRD could settle on

a known terrorist as its next National Assembly President,

Buitrago answered, "We have our business; you have your

business."



3. (C) Comment: Rumors regarding the prospect that Gonzalez

would be the next President of the National Assembly have

been circulating and are now becoming more insistent. In our

on-going outreach to GOP officials and PRD leaders, post will

underscore that selection of Gonzalez for this post would be

seen in a very negative light, note that this development

would have a negative impact on our bilateral relationship,

and urge that a wiser choice be considered.



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Balbina's Star Rising for PRD Presidential Nomination

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4. (C) Current Minister of Housing Balbina Herrera would

likely win the PRD's presidential nomination, Buitrago told

the Panama Post on June 20. Buitrago said that current First

VP and FM Samuel Lewis was going nowhere in the PRD's own

internal polls, barely beating the polls' margin of error.

Lewis' reputation as the darling of the PRD elite was

eroding, Buitrago commented, as the party "elite and

oligarchy" (e.g., the powerful Motta clan) were accepting and

even championing in private Herrera. Presently, Herrera was

running about three percentage points behind current Panama

City Mayor Juan Carlos Navarro, Buitrago asserted. Herrera,

he argued, had wider appeal across the PRD spectrum and was

perceived as being a more of a team player, a critical

concern amongst the rank and file of Panama's largest party.

In contrast, Navarro was seen as selfish and likely to rely

upon and govern with only those PRD members who figured

prominently within his clique. Buitrago predicted a

three-way race in the PRD primaries for the presidential

nomination between Herrera, Navarro, and former President

Ernesto "El Toro" Perez Balladares that Herrera would handily

win.



5. (C) Comment: The Panama Post has heard rumors for months

that Herrera was contemplating a presidential run. Herrera

herself has been decidedly coy and aloof, both in private

comments to the Panama Post and in public. Though Navarro

polls the best of all the PRD presidential pre-candidates,

there is a wide perception that he is reaching his limit and

will be held back by high negatives. Herrera is widely

admired for her adept political skills, especially at the

grass-roots level. While the writing may be on the wall that

Torrijos' preferred successor Lewis is not getting any

political traction, the Panama Post does not discount the

prospect that Torrijos -- in typical fashion -- will anguish

over whether to shift his backing to Herrera.



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Archbishop: "No equality or social justice"

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6. (U) "We need a development policy that achieves equality

and social justice," Panama's Archbishop Jose Dimas declared

during his June 17 homily before 15,000 faithful assembled at

Panama City's Roberto Duran sports complex for the

thirty-seventh annual Eucharistic Mass. In his unexpectedly

political comments, the prelate lauded Panama's exceptional

economic growth in recent years but -- in what has been

widely interpreted as a jab at the Torrijos Administration --

said that they had to lead to improvements in the quality of

life for all Panamanians. The Archbishop also, among other

things: (1) called for a law that favored the users of

public transportation; (2) urged GOP authorities not to rest

until justice was done regarding he diethylene glycol

poisoning case; and (3) rejected any increase in the price of

the basic food basket and fuel prices. Taken by surprise,

governing PRD representatives on hand for the mass --

including, Minister of Housing Balbina Herrera, Minister of

Public Works Benjamin Colamarco and National Assembly

President Elias Castillo, both of whom were seated in the

front row -- brushed aside the explicit criticism of the

government and said that these were promises that the PRD,

the government and the Panamanian people were committed to

fulfilling. Opposition politicians -- most notably former

President Guillermo Endara -- piled on to Dimas' comments to

more directly criticize the Torrijos Administration.



7. (SBU) Dimas uncharacteristically did not shy away from

hitting the GOP on three hot political topics. Siding with

public transportation users, Dimas' remarks were a slam PRD

deputies who, acting to protect the interests of public

transportation providers, have been stalling reform

legislation despite the enormous out-cry in the wake of a

horrific October 2006 bus fire. Perhaps sensing GOP

uneasiness with where the diethylene glycol poisoning case

would lead (some speculate that it might topple Minister of

Health Alleyne), Dimas added his voice to others calling

justice to be done. Finally, touching upon the rising cost

of living, Dimas addressed the most salient political issue

currently on voters minds. Responding to the opposition's

pile-on to Dimas' remarks, Presidential Communications

Secretary Erich Rodriguez Auerbach acknowledged on June 20



SIPDIS

that the archbishop had "boxed the ears of all Panamanians."

Seeking to spread the blame, Rodriguez asserted that all

Panamanians, not just the PRD, needed to heed the prelate's

words.



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Paving the Way to Victory

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8. (U) Former Noriega-era Dignity Battalion Commander and

current Minster of Public Works (MOP) Benjamin Colamarco is

in the midst of managing a road building boom in Panama City

timed to conclude three to five months before the May 2009

elections. In addition to extending the Southern Highway

(Corredor del Sur) around Panama City by building out into

Panama Bay, MOP is launching work on nine vehicle bridges and

numerous other road projects to alleviate pressure on Panama

City's congested and overburden roads. Opposition

politicians, however, assert that the Torrijos Administration

is using state coffers for its own political benefit.

Democratic Change (CD) Political Committee President Roberto

Henriquez, Movement of Liberal National Republicans

(MOLIRENA) President Gisela Chung, and Patriotic Union (UP)

co-President Anibal Galindo have rejected the PRD's use of

the roads projects for political proselytizing.



9. (SBU) Comment: The PRD has a long history of paving

Panama to win votes and support. Sitting on a significant

budget surplus, the Panama Post anticipates a mini-boom in

MOP projects -- in addition to canal expansion project being

carried out by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) -- over the

next eighteen to twenty-four months leading up to the May

2009 elections.



EATON