State Corruption Heats the Debate for Panama Vote

Perhaps it was the state purchase of 13 new Cadillacs that riled this nation where more than one-third of its 2.8 million people live in desperate poverty.

Or maybe it was the “auction” of a government villa that ended up in the hands of the president’s brother. A lot of jaws also dropped with the discovery of $35,000 in cash in the refrigerator of the president’s secretary, whose monthly salary is $1,500.

Corruption has become the major issue in today’s election, which is expected to sweep into power a new president with an old name, Martin Torrijos, son of the late dictator Gen. Omar Torrijos.

That a problem so embedded in Panama’s 100-year history of coups and military strongmen has become the hottest issue here suggests growing pressure for a more open economy now that the country controls its key national asset, the Panama Canal.

Torrijos, 40, has enjoyed a huge lead in polls leading up to today’s vote, which will choose a new president, all 78 legislators and dozens of mayors. Although facing three opponents regarded as honest, the U.S.-educated Torrijos of the Democratic Revolutionary Party has managed to capitalize on public dismay over the administration’s spate of scandals.

His closest rival, former president Guillermo Endara of the conservative Solidarity Party, commands broad respect for leading Panama through the turbulent years after the 1989 U.S. invasion that toppled military strongman Manuel A. Noriega. But voters appear to see the 67-year-old lawyer as a spent force and lean toward the younger and more charismatic Torrijos, who has promised to attack government corruption.

Panama suffers 14% unemployment, thanks in part to the U.S. military pullout four years ago. The canal’s transfer resulted in job losses for thousands of base employees and service-industry workers. Even the canal, which posts healthy growth and profit numbers, has trimmed its workforce.

“I think people care about corruption now because they were shocked by some of the incidents involving the current president,” said Sonia Tejada, a young lawyer. “There’s always been corruption, but not so obvious. We’re supposed to be a democracy now.”

President Mireya Moscoso, widow of late President Arnulfo Arias Madrid, who was elected and deposed three times, angered her countrymen when she purchased 13 silver Cadillacs for use by visiting heads of state during a regional summit in December 2000. Her brother won a purportedly sealed bid for an opulent government villa. The president’s secretary has never given an accounting of the cash found in her refrigerator two years ago and since used as a down payment on a $120,000 home.

Corruption is pervasive. Police set up roadblocks at the end of each workweek, stopping the numerous cars missing lights or emitting pollution to bilk drivers for a ritual known as “cultural Fridays” -- their after-work pub gatherings.

“Society is fed up with all this,” political analyst Marco Fernandez said. “To do anything you have to pay $5 -- to get a permit or even a form. Or maybe it’s $10. On a big project it’s $100. Petty larceny is embodied in the administration.”

A graduate of Texas A&M; University and a former McDonald’s franchise manager, Torrijos has vowed to punish government employees and officials if they are found taking bribes or peddling their influence.

“We want a new nation, governed by honest and capable men and women,” Torrijos told 100,000 cheering supporters at a rally in Cinco de Mayo Square. “Anyone who tries to take advantage of my government by stealing will pay the consequences.”

Much of his popularity comes from some Panamanians’ support for his father, who died in a 1981 plane crash. After seizing power in a 1968 coup -- from Moscoso’s husband -- Omar Torrijos removed racial barriers faced by black and indigenous Panamanians and secured the 1977 agreement with President Jimmy Carter that led to transfer of the canal on Dec. 31, 1999.

Torrijos, who has distanced himself from the authoritarian aspects of his father’s rule, ran for president against Moscoso five years ago and, despite leading polls then too, lost.

Moscoso is prohibited from seeking a second consecutive term and has thrown her support to fellow Arnulfista Party member and former Foreign Minister Jose Miguel Aleman. He has been a distant third in the polls, trailing Torrijos and Endara.