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C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 000533 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/27/2018 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PM
SUBJECT: PANAMA:  PRD PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS FACE OFF, NICELY 
 
Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY POLCOUNS BRIAN R. NARANJO. 
REASON  1.4 (D) 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. (C)  The top three contenders for the presidential 
candidacy for the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) 
faced off on June 26 in their second electoral forum. 
Pointedly, the PRD and its presidential candidates 
characterized this event as a forum, not a debate, wishing to 
communicate unity of purpose and party harmony.  The forum 
produced few fireworks, as all three candidates similarly 
addressed the economic anxiety of the electorate and appealed 
for party unity.  In an event largely intended to communicate 
to PRD faithful, many commentators believed that Juan Carlos 
Navarro had underperformed, Balbina Herrera had held her own, 
and Laurentino Cortizo had outperformed expectations by 
offering "new" ideas, ideas that were largely anti-free 
trade.  While Navarro closely identified himself with current 
President Torrijos, Herrera sought to align herself with 
Torrijos' father, Omar Torrijos. With the PRD primary 
scheduled for September 7, there is still a lot of time for 
the PRD primary to take shape and evolve.  END SUMMARY. 
 
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A Forum, Not a Debate 
--------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) Top-polling Balbina Herrera and strong contender Juan 
Carlos Navarro, as well as very distant third Laurentino 
"Nito" Cortizo participated in the PRD-sponsored two-hour 
forum, not debate, at the Latin University (Universidad 
Latina) in Panama City on June 26.  The forum was broadcast 
on television and radio.  Before an overflow crowd of about 
400 students, professors and others, each contender gave a 
ten-minute opening statement in which they listed their top 
priorities.  Next, each candidate in turn took questions from 
students in the audience as well as students from branches of 
the university in other provinces via videoconference and 
e-mail.  The questions from the audience were prepared for 
particular candidates, and the other candidates did not get 
an opportunity to respond directly to their opponents' 
answers.  The forum ended with a one-minute statement from 
each candidate that each candidate.  All three promoted party 
unity and a strong turnout for the September 7 primary in 
their remarks. 
 
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POVERTY AND FOOD SECURITY ON EVERYONE'S MIND 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) Common issues for all candidates were poverty, food 
security and economic prosperity, especially in the 
"comarcas," autonomous regions administered by indigenous 
tribes.  Each candidate expressed concern for the continued 
prevalence of poverty in Panama despite strong economic 
growth and each touched on the underlying issues in a 
laundry-list like fashion:  the dismal and uneven quality of 
education; the decreasing sense of personal security; the 
lack of adequate health care for all citizens; and the need 
for improved public transportation.  The candidates agreed 
that "self-sufficiency" and local production were the keys to 
food security. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Straying, but Momentarily, from the PRD line 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Cortizo addressed his fallout with the Torrijos 
administration.  (COMMENT: Cortizo resigned his post as 
Minister of Agriculture during negotiations with the U.S. on 
the Trade Promotion Agreement out of disagreement with 
agricultural provisions. END COMMENT)  He claimed that his 
resignation was to protest "unilateral" provisions, "imposed 
by the U.S." on "phytosanitary issues" were "harmful to 
Panama" and "endangered the country's animal and plant 
patrimony."  He assured the audience, however, that he still 
cared for President Torrijos. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Navarro repeatedly emphasized the need to 
decentralize government services and devolve greater 
responsibilities to local mayors.  Speaking of 
decentralization gave Navarro an opportunity to take credit 
for his successes as Mayor of Panama City while at the same 
time blame the current top-down system for existing problems, 
such as the increasing crime rate. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) When queried about how he was prepared to lead a 
country facing many difficulties when he himself came from a 
privileged background, Navarro affirmed that the key question 
was not who comes from a particular social group, but rather 
"who has the capacity to solve the government's problems." 
(COMMENT:  This was a clear shot at Herrera, who came from an 
impoverished area of Panama City and has played on that 
background throughout her career.  END COMMENT) 
 
¶7.  (U) Transportation was touched upon by all three 
candidates in a general way, but only Navarro made the 
specific suggestion that Panama should put in place a metro 
system similar to those in Medellin, Colombia and the 
Dominican Republic. This suggestion was brushed aside in a 
later comment by Cortizo, who noted the $700 million price 
tag for the metro system in the Dominican Republic. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Navarro the Legacy, Herrera the Change Agent 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (C) Second place candidate Juan Carlos Navarro several 
times invoked the name of President Martin Torrijos, casting 
himself as the PRD legacy candidate who could continue the 
successes of the Torrijos Administration and build upon his 
own successes as mayor of Panama City.  In particular, he 
mentioned in his opening statement, and several times after, 
his commitment to continue the "Compita" program, which 
offers discounted baskets of foodstuffs to poor families. 
(NOTE:  "Compita" is a program by which the GOP purchases 
bulk foodstuffs such as rice, flour and oil, packages the 
foodstuffs under the GOP's "Compita" brand and sells them to 
Panamanians.  "Compita" products, which are priced lower than 
supermarket brands, have been popular with poor Panamanians.) 
 Navarro did not mention any other Torrijos programs that he 
wishes to continue. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Front-runner Balbina Herrera referred back to her 
roots with former Panamanian strongman, PRD founder, and 
father of the current president Omar Torrijos. She promoted 
her candidacy as a turnaround opportunity, and a chance to 
face problems and people that had been ignored.  At one 
point, she said "If things are bad, someone should say so." 
In a response to a telephone question referring to her 
position in the Panamanian government during a "dark" period 
in recent history (a reference to her high profile role in 
deposed strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega's regime), Herrera 
ignored the reference and replied again in the positive, 
emphasizing that the PRD was a "democratic, pluralistic, 
supportive and respectful party," that would hopefully remain 
united. 
 
¶10.  (U) Other questions from the audience included subjects 
as varied as:  access to transportation for the disabled, 
campaign finance reporting, tourism in the Azuero peninsula, 
the construction boom and land use laws, arts funding and the 
promotion of microfinance. 
 
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Comment 
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¶11.  (C)  The style of the forum, which did not allow 
candidates to directly challenge their opponents, left little 
room for stark contrasts between the candidates.  Indeed, 
structuring this event as a forum, not a debate, was wholly 
intentional.  The PRD, a normally hermetically sealed party, 
is generally loathe to air its dirty laundry in public.  The 
touchstone for any PRD presidential hopeful is embracing 
party unity and underscoring commitment to fulfilling the 
party's corporate mission or purpose.  The tone amongst the 
candidates was largely warm and few jibes were given or 
taken.  The audience did not exhibit a clear preference for 
any candidate, although Herrera had a substantial cheering 
section.  Each candidate used their closing statement for a 
general plug for the PRD, leaving loyal supporters feeling 
warm and fuzzy.  Trailing Herrera by perhaps as much as 20 
points in internal PRD polling, Navarro's decision to tie 
himself closely to the Torrijos Administration, whose own 
popularity has been tanking in recent months, is not without 
risk, although President Torrijos recently claimed to 
Ambassador that support for him among PRD rank and file was 
significantly high.  Though outpaced by Herrera, most 
pollsters and political commentators are not prepared to 
count out Navarro who is widely seen to be a hard-working 
politician prepared to grind out his victories through 
aggressive, street-level, door-to-door politicking.  Herrera 
is still riding the wave of enormous popular appeal, but has 
yet to put in place a political machine to deliver her voters 
to the polls.  Many commentators believed Navarro 
underperformed and was outshone by Herrera. 
EATON