In recent days the National Institute of Culture (INAC) has announced that the site of the long-abandoned and lost Spanish settlement of Acla has been found in the Darien, and that what may be the ruins of an ancient pyramid have been located in Bocas del Toro. Earlier this year, a pre-Columbian burial site was found in a cave near Madden Lake, and before that, construction crews working on a hydroelectric project discovered the remnants of a truly ancient culture near Gualaca in Chirqui.

Meanwhile, progress on recovering the historical find that has elicited the most worldwide interest in Panama in a long time, the remains of a ship that may be Columbus's Vizcaina, has stalled. Tourists coming here frequently ask to see the artifacts that have been recovered.

It seems that the National Institute of Culture (INAC) is much better at press releases than it is at recovering, preserving and displaying Panama's historical and archaelogical legacy. That's not always INAC's fault. We have a budget squeeze and a lot of worthy and necessary programs have had their funds cut.

However, INAC has not been able to stand up to the pestilential swarms that come to feast upon every find that might prove valuable. It hasn't been very good at assigning proper priority to the most valuable discoveries. It has an awful record when it comes to moblizing corporate, foundation and academic support for projects that the Panamanian government can't or won't fund.

Now, with our centennial year officially underway, Panama is not properly prepared to display a legacy that we should be showing with pride.

This is not a good time to assign blame or credit, but to face the immediate tasks at hand we may need to first rid ourselves of those who have manifested the most concern about these matters. Our biggest tourist season ever is almost upon us and there's a lot of work to do. It's time for people to either get to work or get out of the way.

Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none.

William Shakespeare

If God lived on earth, people would break his windows.

Jewish Proverb

Power is the ability not to have to please.

Elizabeth Janeway