Ante la corrupción, crítica y unidad popular constituyente

por el Movimiento de Adecentamiento de la Universidad de Panamá (MOVADUP)

La corrupción es algo consustancial a las élites sociales y a la dirigencia política venal que de antiguo se les ha asociado. Pero ahora, lo que antes eran secretos que todo el mundo sabía, pero nadie confesaba, ahora son gritos de exhibición de desvergüenza. Antes observaban escrúpulos entre los ladrones de cuello blanco; ahora, las disputas entre ellos los hacen delatarse mutuamente mientras arrojan sus inmundicias al público.

En los años 60, la gente se levantó por la bandera mancillada en la Zona del Canal; ahora, un sobrecosto de 5 mil millones pende sobre la reciente ampliación de la Vía Interoceánica para beneficio de un consorcio dirigido por Sacyr, famoso por sus coimas internacionales. En los 80, el pueblo se indignó por el escándalo hipotecario del Seguro Social; ahora, la Junta Directiva de esa institución perdona las deudas a los que les roban las cuotas a los trabajadores; en los 90, impedimos la privatización del IDAAN; ahora, “100% agua potable” es una vacua ilusión y nos aguantamos los servicios más caros y deficientes. Hace algunos años, durante la administración de Martinelli, impedimos que nos metieran la “Ley Chorizo”, se apoderaran de las tierras indígenas y privatizaran la Zona Libre de Colón; ahora parecemos mudos ante los más graves escándalos de corrupción como los de Odebrecht y Mossack-Fonseca, en donde la oligarquía, con dos ejemplos de los abundantes casos que la caracterizan, exhibe con descaro la impunidad y la guerra verbal es más para entretener que para conducir a procesos de justicia confiables.

Así fue antes y así es ahora. Las victorias populares siempre han logrado avances, pero no han significado arrebatar las estructuras de poder a quienes las han monopolizado. Esas aguas ahora refluyen para dejar al descubierto la carroña que contamina la playa de la sociedad. Otrora, la nación cerró filas detrás de los pendones de estudiantes, gremios y sindicatos, movimientos cívicos y partidos opositores. Pero ahora, puesto que vastas dirigencias de estas organizaciones han participado o encubierto actos de corrupción y ahora se rasgan las vestiduras, ¿en qué o en quién puede confiar la población? La desconfianza popular es evidente en la baja asistencia a las protestas. La ciudadanía detecta, con razón, que las estructuras del Estado no son lo único podrido. Sospechan que hay, entre quienes los convocan, muchos elementos carentes de moral, con intereses mezquinos. En sentido contrario, ni siquiera el Consejo Académico actual de la Universidad de Panamá, institución llamada a ello por su liderazgo natural en nuestra sociedad, ha tenido valor para hacer lo correcto pronunciándose contra esta tragedia nacional de la corrupción.

En el MOVADUP, no obstante, somos optimistas, pues el mismo pueblo panameño que exhibe momentos estelares en sus luchas históricas sabrá poner en cuestión e incluso rebasar a los que pretenden hablar en su nombre, lo mismo que execrar a los que no se atreven a hacerlo, aun teniendo ese deber. Es ahí donde está el comienzo de la liberación. Toda unidad debe basarse primero en la confianza, y el MOVADUP estimulará un proceso pacífico en que sea el propio pueblo (no los actores políticos conocidos y cuestionados ni menos “comisiones investigadoras” de afuera) el que se dé los mecanismos para su propia regeneración. Como todo problema grave conlleva una solución radical, MOVADUP fomentará la unidad para la movilización en aras de la conformación de un proceso constituyente de la más amplia base originaria y popular que dé al traste con las prácticas viciosas y caducas y arrebate el poder a quienes siempre han abusado de él e inicie la regeneración nacional.

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Los tres poderes del Estado en acciones comprometedoras

por Olimpo A. Sáez M.

La crisis que vive el país por los sobreprecios, que sabemos y no conocemos en cifras concretas, como tampoco las coimas repartidas a unos y otros por la constructora Odebrecht, se ha afiebrado con las declaraciones del abogado Ramón Fonseca Mora. Las mismas llegan a los tres poderes del Estado en acciones comprometedoras:

Estas declaraciones tormentosas, tienen a su favor las delaciones premiadas en Brasil, Suiza y USA, por las cuales conocemos de las coimas millonarias entregadas a panameños, de los cuales solo se conocen unos nombres, porque el Ministerio Público camina a pasos de selectividad y muchos creemos que de complicidad con muchos de los que deben estar presos y sus bienes cautelados, por el robo descarado de los dineros del pueblo.

A raíz del problema de Odebrecht que crece y se agiganta en Brasil, Colombia y Perú, con posibilidades de tumbar gobiernos, siguen provocando indignación en la ciudadanía de estos países. Panamá no es el único que está en el ojo de la tormenta, pero si es el que va más despacio en las averiguaciones con respecto a los responsables del robo millonario por las coimas entregadas.

Esta tormenta y sus fuertes remezones hacen crisis en el Gobierno Nacional y es lógico que los políticos, gremios, sociedad civil y ciudadanos en general empiecen a buscar soluciones políticas a la misma, si ella se sigue agravando y la ciudadanía sale de sus mecedoras y hamacas y se decide a reclamar sus derechos y a ejercer sus deberes. A raíz de esas voces legítimas que aparecen en la sociedad, se ha iniciado igualmente por algunos medios de comunicación y entre algunos ciudadanos, la especie, mal informada, confusa y quizás dirigida por el Gobierno de que esas propuestas, se prestan para que los “pescadores políticos pesquen en esas aguas turbias”. Se inicia pues, una campaña de desinformación, a mi parecer, de buena o mala fe, en señalar que los movimientos cívicos de protestas o las propuestas de algunos ciudadanos con respecto a la crisis que estamos viviendo son para “pescar en río revuelto”.

Creo que los políticos, sean del signo que sean, lo mismo que los ciudadanos tienen la responsabilidad de pensar y actuar frente a la crisis con valor, con coraje pensando en el país. Los oportunistas políticos del pelaje que sean, se les conocerá en el camino. El pueblo no es tonto, por no decir pendejo.

Entre las opciones o sugerencias que han aparecido para enfrentar la crisis están las siguientes:

¿Cuál es el pecado de estas fórmulas? ¿Cuál es el Golpe de Estado? ¿Cuál es la revolución? ¿Cuál de ellas acabará con el país y con los negocios en Panamá? Eso lo debe decidir la ciudadania y los panameños en su conjunto.

Creo que estamos lejos todavía de encontrar en la ciudadanía en general alguna fórmula viable a la crisis. Creo que debemos trabajar en alguna fórmula posible, viable, cierta y unitaria para estar presente en la profundización de la crisis. Creo que solo la unidad en la diversidad podrá ayudar a resolver la crisis. Sin sectarismo político ni ideológico. Lejos está el Asalto al Cuartel Moncada, la toma del Palacio de Invierno, la Gran Marcha y que decir de la “revolución bolivariana de Hugo Chávez” para Panamá.

Por ahora, la ciudadania debe protestar una y otra vez, aquí y por allá, para exigirle al Gobierno transparencia y al Ministerio Publico que la justicia sea igual para todos, CAIGA QUIEN CAIGA.

A estas alturas del juego, ya nadie se engaña ni lo engañan y todos queremos:

Los fantasmas del desastre, los augurios de la ruina nacional, los profetas del caos y el desorden, los voceros del miedo, deben ser rechazados por los ciudadanos pensantes. Los “pescadores en río revuelto” es una campaña para crear miedo y parálisis entre la ciudadanía. Otras crisis se han vivido y sufrido y Panamá la ha superado.

Llegó la hora de la ciudadania, de la vergüenza cívica, de la vergüenza nacional. Solo las calles nos salvarán.

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On our own, as we should be

Show a Panamanian who wants Donald Trump to solve the Odebrecht scandal for Panama and you will have pointed out somebody who does not want to see justice done for Panamanians.

The United States has and uses a veto in the United Nations. The United States dominates the Organization of American States. Handing the problem to either of those organizations is to hand it to the United States.

The president of the United States is a vicious white racist with a long history of mafia ties. He ran for office on a platform of contempt for all Latin Americans. At present he is harboring in the United States Ricardo Martinelli and Alejandro Toledo, both former Latin American presidents who each took huge bribes from Odebrecht. President Trump has his presence in Florida, where Odebrecht paid off such politicians as Jeb Bush and Xavier Suarez and received huge public works contracts, but we have never heard one peep from Trump about that situation.

Yes, there are Americans inside and outside of Panama, dual citizens and those whose sole nationality is US, who would be able and willing to help. Yes, much of Latin America is similarly caught in this pervasive international scandal and many sincere and capable people in Panama and our sister republics in the region who would work together to address the many problems created by this monumental criminal enterprise.

When it’s useful and it doesn’t compromise our national interests, Panama should accept help from its friends, and likewise lend assistance to our friends in need. Unfortunately, the spirit of mutual assistance among neighbors in search of justice has been lacking in our government.

But this is our problem. Panamanians from all walks of life need to make the sacrifices, do the work and run the risks to cure the evils that have given us the Odebrecht scandal. The facile solution of letting the Americans take care of it is no solution at all. Panama is an independent nation and it’s time for Panamanians to act according to that principle.

Uuuuh — foo-BALL!

The military officer who carries “the football” — the satchel from which a world-ending nuclear war might be launched — for President Trump has been photographed and identified in the world press. Perhaps that will require his replacement.

It was a security gaffe, every bit as serious as Hillary Clinton’s celebrated private email server. It’s the sort of thing that’s forthcoming from an administration of demagogues and dumb jocks.

Bear in mind…

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We have to eradicate corruption
without foreign intervention

by the Independent Movement for National Refoundation (MIREN)

Panama is a sovereign country, such that we, its citizens, are obliged to fight tenaciously to combat corruption that’s caused by a system that puts lucre and rapine before the welfare of the population. Our problems should be resolved by Panamanians. We can’t pretend that institutions that have offended our country, like the OAS, or with their rigged dialogues have deceived our population, like the UN Development Program has, can now appear as our means of salvation.

We need to unite our people to refound the nation — this is our only road to a decent country. An independent commission of Panamanians of probity who are committed to national sovereignty should be constituted, and they might use international assistance.

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That’s how it happened

by Uri Avnery — Gush Shalom

After my last article, in which I mentioned that the Arabs started the 1948 war after the partition resolution of the UN, I received several furious messages.

The writers, who (I suppose) were born after the events, accuse the Zionists of starting the war in order to expel the Arab population.

Since I took part in the events — I was 24 years old at the time — I feel that it is my duty to describe what really happened, as truthfully as possible. (I have written two books about it, one during the war and one immediately after.)

To describe the atmosphere in the country just before the war, let me recount one of the great moments of my life.

In the late summer, an annual folk dance festival took place in a natural amphitheater in the Carmel mountains. About 40 thousand young men and women were assembled, a very large number given that our total population was only about 635,000.

At the time, a commission of the United Nations (UNSCOP) was touring the country in order to find a solution to the Jewish-Arab conflict.

We were watching the dance groups — among them one from a neighboring Arab village, who danced the Debka with such enthusiasm that they just couldn’t stop — when the loudspeakers announced that members of the UN commission were visiting us.

Spontaneously, all the thousands of young men and women stood up and broke into the National Anthem with such vigor that the echo resounded from the mountains around us.

It was the last time that my generation was assembled. Within a year, thousands of those present were dead.

Following the recommendation of that commission, the General Assembly of the UN resolved on November 29, 1947, to partition Palestine between a Jewish and an Arab state, with Jerusalem as a separate unit under international rule.

Though the territory allotted to the Jewish state was small, the Jewish population realized the immense importance of statehood. It was just three years after the end of the Holocaust.

The entire Arab world opposed the resolution. As they saw it, why should the Arab population of Palestine pay the price for the Holocaust committed by Europeans?

A few days after the resolution, a Jewish bus was shot at. That was the beginning of Phase 1 of the war.

To understand the events, one must consider the situation. The two populations on the country were closely intertwined. In Jerusalem, Haifa and Jaffa-Tel Aviv, Arab and Jewish quarters were situated close together.

Every Jewish village was surrounded by Arab ones. To exist, they needed use of the highroads, which were dominated by Arab villages. By now, shootings broke out all over the country. The British were still nominally in charge, but tried to get involved as little as possible.

The underground Jewish paramilitary organization, called Haganah (“Defense”), was responsible for keeping the roads open. Jewish traffic moved in convoys, defended by Haganah members, male and female. The females were needed, because they could hide the illegal weapons under their clothes.

The Arab side had no centralized command. Attacks were undertaken by villagers, many of whom had old rifles at home. Since some of these fellahin were quite primitive, atrocities happened. Our side retaliated the same way. As a result, this became a very bitter struggle.

One group of Haganah fighters, composed of university students, who rushed to the defense of a Jewish settlement bloc, was ambushed and killed to the last man. We saw photos of their severed heads paraded through the streets of Arab Jerusalem.

The inevitable strategy of the Jewish side was to remove the Arab villages along the highways. Jewish villages were told to stay put, whatever the price, though a very few of the most exposed ones were evacuated.

In February, 1948, the British evacuated a Tel Aviv area, and this became the nucleus of the Jewish state. The British left at the same time some compact Arab areas, too.

By the end of March, both sides had already suffered heavy casualties. Phase 2 began.

On April 1, my company was rushed to the improvised port of Tel Aviv to receive a large shipment of Soviet bloc arms. A year before, in a surprise move, the Soviet bloc in the UN had started to support the Zionist side. Stalin, as anti-Zionist as anybody could be, had probably decided that a Jewish state in Palestine was better than a British-US military base.

We spent a day removing the grease from the rifles, which had been produced by the Czechs for Hitler’s army but were too late for World War II. That was the beginning of Phase 2 of the war.

The Jewish quarters of Jerusalem were cut off by the Arab villages on the road. Our operation, the first big one of the war, was to open the road.

A stretch of road, several kilometers long, passed though a narrow gorge, with steep hills on both sides. Bab-al-Wad (Arabic for “Gate of the Valley”) was the terror of every soldier. If we were shot at from above, we would have to get out, climb these hills under fire and fight on top. Not a very pleasant prospect.

A huge convoy of 135 trucks had been assembled, and it was our job to get them to Jerusalem. My squad was allotted a truck carrying cheese, and we tried to arrange some cover between the crates. Luckily, we got through without being attacked. We entered Jerusalem on a Shabbat, masses of religious Jews left the synagogues and received us with immense joy, it resembled de Gaulle’s entry into Paris. (By chance, a photographer took my picture there.)

We returned unscratched. Ours was the last convoy to get through — the next one was attacked and had to turn around. Several costly battles to open the road, which was now blocked by an irregular Arab volunteer force from abroad, failed. We lost a hundred dead.

The road remained closed for decades. Our army found an alternative route which we called the Burma Road, after the British route from India to China in World War II.

By that time it became clear that the regular armies of the surrounding Arab countries were about to enter the war. This changed the character of the fight entirely.

In preparation for the battle, the Israeli army “cleared” large stretches of land of their Arab inhabitants, so as not to leave Arab concentrations behind our lines. This could still be justified by tactical necessity.

On May 14, the last of the British left, and the next day the regular armies of five Arab states — Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, with some help from Saudi Arabia — entered the war. They were regular troops, trained and equipped by their former British and French overlords, and had artillery and air power, which we still lacked.

On paper, the Arab side enjoyed a huge superiority in armaments, training and (I am not sure) numbers. But we had three advantages. First, we knew that we were fighting for our lives, quite literally, with our backs to the wall. We had a unified command, while the Arab armies competed with each other. And third: the Arabs had a profound contempt for us. Who has ever heard of Jews fighting? Also, in tactical terms, we had the advantage of “inner lines,” being able to quickly move forces from one front to another.

The following weeks — Phase 3 — saw the most desperate fighting of the entire war, battles that resembled World War I. I saw battles in which almost all our fighters were killed or wounded, and a solitary last machine gun kept firing. There were hours when everything seemed lost.

But then, slowly, the fortunes of war turned. By the end of this round, we were alive and fighting, standing our ground.

Phase 4 still saw some pitched battles, even an attack with bayonets. But our side scented victory. It was then that the mass expulsion of the population of Arab towns and villages became obviously conscious government policy. At that point in time I was severely wounded and left the front.

When everybody on both sides was exhausted, the war ended with a set of armistices, which defined the recognized borders of Israel.

Within these borders, very few Arabs were left. But an almost forgotten fact is that not a single Jew was left in the areas conquered by the Arab side. Fortunately for us, these areas were few and small compared to the large areas conquered by our side. The term “ethnic cleansing” was not yet invented.

These are the facts. Everybody can build on them any interpretation and ideology they fancy.

But, please, no Trumpian “alternative facts.”

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