VZCZCXYZ0014
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHZP #1052/01 1722055
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 212055Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY PANAMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0665
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

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). 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶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. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
Terrorist Possible Next National Assembly President 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶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. 
 
--------- ------------------------------------------- 
Balbina's Star Rising for PRD Presidential Nomination 
--------- ------------------------------------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
----------- ------------------------------- 
Archbishop: "No equality or social justice" 
----------- ------------------------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
------ ------------------ 
Paving the Way to Victory 
------ ------------------ 
 
¶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