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C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 001186 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/10/2017 
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON ETRD PM
SUBJECT: PANAMA:  TORRIJOS VENTS TO AMBASSADOR 
 
REF: PANAMA 1143 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William A. Eaton.  Reasons:  1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. (C) Panamanian President Martin Torrijos vented to 
Ambassador on July 9 as they traveled together from Panama 
City to Colon to visit the USNS Comfort.  In an atypically 
chatty mood and highly agitated, Torrijos let down his guard 
and let loose: lambasting the press, asserting that former 
civil crusade leader and prominent businessman Roberto 
"Bobby" Eisenmann was somebody into whom the Embassy should 
look, complaining about non-governmental organizations 
(NGOs), and kvetching about the "rich and powerful" who still 
felt they ran Panama.  Addressing the rising cost of the 
basic basket of goods in Panama, the President also 
complained that "middlemen" were "gouging" average 
Panamanians and said the government would begin, for example, 
buying rice and managing its sale and redistribution to the 
public.  Finally, Torrijos complained that the U.S. Congress 
-- in asserting that Peru and Panama must adopt all 
implementing legislation before the U.S.-Panama Trade 
Promotion Agreement (TPA) would be acted on -- constituted 
moving the goal posts on Panama (septel).  Vulnerable, 
demonstrating the thinness of his skin, and clearly wanting 
the Ambassador to hear his side of the story, Torrijos' 
comments also raised questions about how new the "New 
Homeland (Patria Nueva)" wing of the governing Revolutionary 
Democratic Party (PRD) really is.  End Summary. 
 
-------------------------- 
The Press is Out to Get Me 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C)  Torrijos opened his rant by launching into a tear 
lambasting Panama's press, in particular their recent 
scrutiny of the "Seeing to Learn" ("Ver para Aprender") 
program managed by First Lady Vivian Fernandez de Torrjos. 
(Note:  This program provides needy students with eye 
glasses.  Press carried widely a story of Panama's 
optometrist association's report asserting that this program 
was mishandled in that the same companies that supplied 
glasses were also the companies that conducted the exams. 
One noted optometrist asserted that this arrangement created 
an incentive for companies to issue glasses to students who 
did not need them -- and indeed whose eyesight would be 
damaged by them -- so that they could receive greater 
payments from the First Lady's Office.)  Torrijos repeatedly 
noted, "The eye glasses only cost eleven dollars, and it was 
money well spent."  Clearly, the press had an anti-Torrijos 
agenda.  The president even asserted that the timing of the 
press' "campaigns against him" were predictable:  Whenever 
the GOP's unpaid publicity bills exceeded USD one million, 
Torrijos asserted, the press exerted pressure by running 
negative press.  Since the press was in family hands, they 
could not float more than USD one million, Torrijos claimed. 
 
-------------------------------- 
Bobby Eisenmann is Out to Get Me 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C) Turning from La Prensa to La Prensa's former 
publisher, Torrijos claimed that Roberto "Bobby" Eisenmann 
was now exerting more control over leading Panamanian 
broadsheet daily La Prensa.  "The recent shake-ups in La 
Prensa's leadership have Bobby's fingerprints all over them." 
 (Note:  Eisenmann was a key leader in the anti-Noriega Civil 
Crusade, continues to be a significant stock holder in La 
Prensa, and remains a prominent businessman.  Eisenmann also 
heads the Panamanian chapter of Transparency International.) 
Torrijos launched into a tirade about NGOs in Panama; 
"Somebody should look into who's financing these NGOs.  They 
are in the pay of powerful interests in Panama."  Possibly 
referencing Transparency International, Torrijos said, "They 
complain about the government's lack of transparency, but 
they don't fess up to their funding sources or their payrolls 
as the government does."  The President said he would planned 
to propose "sunshine" legislation in September to require 
NGOs to ensure transparency with respect to their funding 
sources, finances and salaries of their employees. 
 
¶4.  (C) "Eisenmann is trying to hijack" the UNDP-facilitated 
national dialogue to develop a national development strategy, 
Torrijos asserted.  Not liking what's being contemplated, 
Eisenmann wanted to tie the Torrijos Administration's and 
future administrations' hands to follow Eisenmann's master 
plan.  "Who elected him?" Torrijos exclaimed.  "If Bobby 
wants to make political decisions for his country, he ought 
to run for election, not try to manipulate the country behind 
the scenes." 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
The Transportation Interests Are Out to Get Me 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶5.  (C) The transportation cabal, in cohoots with the press, 
was misrepresenting the facts with respect to efforts to 
improve public transportation, Torrijos claimed.  "I am not 
going to back down from my plan to deploy articulated buses." 
 (Note:  Articulated buses are extra-long buses with an 
accordion-like mid-section that allows the bus to bend.) 
Stating that he had made a mistake in trying to bundle his 
entire transportation reform effort into a single, neat 
package, Torrijos asserted that transportation interests were 
grabbing hold of the effort to try and establish an ironclad 
monopoly for themselves.  Torrijos said that his government 
had broken this effort into three more manageable packages 
(NFI) in order to get the best deal for the GOP. Initially, 
articulated buses would start running before the end of his 
administration in 2009 on the Northern Corridor (Corredor 
Norte) toll-road with low fares (possibly forty cents) as the 
tolls would subsidize the bus. 
 
------------------------------- 
The Oligarchs Are Out to Get Me 
------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (C) Torrijos asserted that the "rich and powerful in 
Panama" also worked to stymie his efforts.  For example, 
claiming that Moscoso-era officials continued to receive some 
USD 40,000 in "residual" kick-backs from Tocumen 
International Airport duty free concessionaires, Torrijos 
asserted that when it became apparent that the gravy train 
would be ending soon, vested interests raised a ruckus. 
"That was the reason for the delay in contract process for 
the airport duty free concessions.  Shifting his fire, 
Torrijos complained that "middlemen" were "gouging" consumers 
by raising the prices of basic food products in the "basic 
basket (canasta basica) and thereby preying on poor 
consumers.  While greater efficiencies in agricultural 
production were lowering costs, the President asserted that 
middlemen were not passing the cost savings along but rather 
were increasing their profits.  Much as in the energy sector, 
Torrijos said that his government would buy rice and 
guarantee rice purchases for producers.  Then the government 
will control the sale and price of rice. 
 
---------------------- 
Off to the PanAm Games 
---------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C) Torrijos said that he and First VP and FM Samuel 
Lewis would travel to Rio de Janeiro to attend the 
Pan-American Games (reftel).  Since Panama's President would 
be there, Torrijos explained, Panamanian athletes would be 
able to fly the Panamanian flag and the Panamanian national 
anthem would be played for any Panamanian athletes who won 
medals.  While now the GOP contributed funds to Panama's 
Olympic Committee (COP), Torrijos said he had no control over 
who served on the various sports governing bodies.  New 
legislation would give the GOP more control over nominations 
for this governing bodies, Torrijos asserted. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Middle Class Growing, Not Shrinking 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (C) Wages were rising, so the middle class was growing, 
not shrinking, Torrijos asserted, in response to recent press 
reporting that claimed that the middle class was an 
endangered species.  "Well, it depends on what you mean by 
middle class," Torrijos clarified.  In Panama, for example, 
he explained that a person who earned USD 2,500 was 
considered to be in the upper class; "Is that reality?" he 
asked.  "We need to define middle class before we can say 
whether it is growing or shrinking." 
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Comment 
------- 
 
¶9.  (C) Torrijos was on a roll.  Emotionally protesting, 
Torrijos showed his sense of vulnerability and his 
extraordinarily thin skin.  Particularly, the President was 
incensed by the press' recent reporting of the President of 
Panama's optometrists association denunciation of the First 
Lady's free eyeglass program, especially assertions that 
funds were mishandled and children's vision adversely 
affected.  Clearly he wanted Ambassador to hear his side of 
the story in the hopes that Ambassador would take with a 
grain of salt press stories attacking Torrijos and his 
government.  Torrijos also, however, provided an exceptional 
glimpse into his thinking and style of government replete 
with:  excessive suspicion of the press, an unsophisticated 
understanding of the role of NGOs in civil society and belief 
that they served as Trojan horses, and belief that he was 
embattled against interests that he perceives in a very 
personalized way.  Instead, Torrijos confronts a largely 
docile press, commands the UNDP-led national dialogue and is 
able to manipulate its outcomes, and services his own 
PRD-associated "rich and powerful."  In the run-up to 
Panama's 2009 elections, one key question will be has the 
governing Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD) -- the 
creation of dictator Omar Torrijos, the current president's 
father, and the party of Manuel Noriega -- really changed its 
spots.  If Torrijos' tear is any indication, the PRD leopard 
may not have changed its spots all that much. 
 
Eaton