Political Careers, Corruption, and Impunity
Political careers, corruPtion, and imPunity Panama’s assembly, 1984 – 2009 carlos Guevara mann University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana © 2011 University of Notre Dame Introduction The scene could have hardly been more illustrative of this book’s topic. On January 16, 2002, before a crowd of cameramen and reporters, Pana - manian legislator Carlos Afú, then of Partido Revolucionario Demo - crático (PRD),1 extracted a stack of paper money from his jacket. Those six thousand dollars, he said, were the first installment of a payment for his vote in favor of a multimillion-dollar contract between the govern- ment of Panama and a private consortium, Centro Multimodal Indus- trial y de Servicios (CEMIS).2 Legislator Afú claimed to have received the money from fellow party and assembly member Mateo Castillero, chair- man of the chamber’s Budget Committee. Disbursement of the bribe’s balance—US$14,000—was still pending. That was the only kickback he had received, claimed Afú, alluding to the accusation of another fel- low party and assembly member, Balbina Herrera,3 that Afú had received “suitcases filled with money” to approve the appointment of two gov- ernment nominees to the Supreme Court. Afú’s declarations sent shock waves throughout the country and seemed to confirm the perception of Panama’s political system as one in which corruption, impunity, and clientelism prevail. As political figures exchanged accusations and added more sleaze to the story, commenta- tors, media, and civil society organizations called for a sweeping inves- tigation of the “Afúdollars” case. But the tentacles of the CEMIS affair 1 © 2011 University of Notre Dame 2 | Political Careers, Corruption, and Impunity were spread too broadly throughout Panama’s political establishment.
[Show full text]