Torrijos in Texas
President Martin Torrijos went to Houston, Texas recently. He met the executive director of the Port of Houston Authority, Thomas Kornegay, and explained Panama´s need to expand the Canal.

He also witnessed an agreement, signed by the rector of the University of Texas, Robert Gates, and the, rector of the International Maritime University of Panama (UMIP) Mr. E. Allard for cooperation that will benefit teachers and students involved in the country’s maritime careers.

Conventions Opportunity
In spite of the fact that Panama has the most modern hotel infraestructure of Central America, it attracts only a minimum percentage of the congresses and conventions that come to Latin America. It is estimated that the industry of large congresses in Latin America moved US$1,300-million in 2005, of which Panama gained barely 3%, or US$39-million.

Noriega Condemned
The Attorney General’s Office presented a report summarizing the 20 criminal cases in Panama against former dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega. In five of them he was condemned. Of the 20 cases, five are homicides, four crimes against individual liberty, three of embezzlement and two of cover-ups. Besides these, files exist on corruption exortion and usurpation. There is also a case in which "no crime is detailed".

Indian Autonomy
In spite of the fact that they occupy 20% of the national territory, the five Indian regions legally constituted in the country function without budgets and without the presence of state institutions. In spite of this panorama, another two native groups, Bri-Bri and Nasp, have finalized their petition to the National Assembly to be recognized as "comarcas" (reservations or regions).

Hydroelectric Potential
The hydroelectric potential of Panama is considerable, but to date has been little exploited. During the 80’s the old State electricity company, IRHE, carried out a study in which it identified more than 185 water sources that could meet the characteristics to build hydroelectric schemes.

Call Centers
Panama continues to head the activity of the call centers in Central America, a sector that this year projects a growth of 38%. Nevertheless, the availability of bilingual personnel is a major concern.

Canal Salaries
The best paid officials in Latin America work for the Panama Canal and 36 of them take almost 20 percent of the total salaries that the waterway pays yearly to their 9,129 workers.

Skyscrapers
Panama will soon have the most skyscrapers in Latin America with various projects for high buildings that will be completed before the year 2010. In a few weeks contruction will begin on the tallest building in Latin America of 381 meters with 104 apartments, named the Ice Tower. Then there will be the Palacio de la Bahia (Bay Palace). It will rise 350 meters. Other projects are the building Planetarium of 82 floors, Torre Vitri of 75, Ocean Two of 73, Pearl at the Sea (65) and Aqualina (61).

Regional Anti-Corruption War
Nicaragua hopes that in Panama it can recover the millions of dollars that its former president Arnoldo Aleman Lacayo placed in Panamanian banks, said the Attorney General of Panama, Ana Matilde Gomez. Gomez, who participated in an international seminar in Miami, said that now the fight against corruption and money laundering would be coordinated in the different countries of the region where cases have been aired in the past such as those of Augusto Pinochet, Alberto Fujimori, Vladimiro Montesinos, Manuel Antonio Noriega and Arnoldo Aleman.

Europe Ties
To discuss the possible launch of an agreement of association between the European Union and the Central American region is one of the objectives of the Summit of Presidents this month in Vienna, Austria.

In this context, the project to enlarge the Panama Canal already has attracted the attention of the European Union. Authorized spokesmen in Brussels have affirmed that they would finance the construction of the new locks if businesses of the old world participate.

Odd Problem
According to a recent poll published in La Prensa newspaper the majority of Panamanians – 68.6%-- believe that there are security problems in their neighborhood. This would seem to call for more police presence. But the problem is that half of the population --- 50.7% -- has fear and distrust when they are near a member of the National Police Force. Another 2.5% feel "insecure"

Gas Stations Penalised
Some 30 gas stations located in the capital city and the interior of the country have been severely sanctioned for illegal practices and irregularities in the supply of gasoline to the consumer. The operation of checking the gas stations continues to detect irregularities at the moment fuel is supplied to the users.

The Golden Frog is a resident of the mountains between Campana National Park and El Valle de Antón.

For the first time in history, the Golden Frog, an endemic species of Panama, has been successfully reproduced in a foreign zoo.

After many years of research and experimentation, scientists from the Detroit Zoo declared that five pairs of frogs had mated and produced large numbers of eggs and tadpoles.

The rare specimen, which is found in the mountains of western Panama, especially between Campana National Park and El Valle de Antón, is rapidly losing its habitat due to deforestation, polution, climate change (the frog's original habitat features year-round cool temperatures), hunters and frog-killing fungus.

Visitors in Panama can find specimens of the Golden Frog in a number of hotels in El Valle and at El Nispero Zoo and Plant Nursery, a large tropical garden where many exotic species are on display.

The Canal’s expansion

92 years of service
When Theodore Roosevelt strove to persuade the U.S. Congress to build a canal through Panama, he was thinking of a short cut that would grant the fledging U.S. Navy complete control over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This "dream" became a reality and the Canal opened in 1914, coinciding with the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

Today, at the dawn of the 21st century, the Canal continues to see a lot of action, but not with military vessels, which now constitute a small fraction of the 8,000 ships that use the waterway each year. Approximately 5% of world commerce passes through the Canal, the shortest route between the two oceans, saving shipping companies an average three weeks of dangerous and expensive passage around Tierra del Fuego, in South America.

The question is: how long will the Canal continue holding on to its hegemony? The world is definitely not the same as in 1914. Experts say that the Canal will reach full capacity in 2012, but with the introduction of the "Post-Panamax" vessels which, as their name suggests are larger than the Panama Canal locks (currently representing 7% of the world’s fleet) many other routes are also emerging as potential and actual competitors of Panama’s famous waterway. For example, the United States, with much larger distances between both coasts, often eases congestion at the Panama Canal with its well-developed network of roads and railways.

Although another canal through Central America is still unlikely due to the same factors that prompted the U.S. government to abandon the Nicaraguan canal project in the early 20th century (constant earthquakes and hurricanes), the governments of Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras have not abandoned the possibility of building some sort of "dry canal" with the construction of railways and highways in order to compete with Panama. Even the diminishing of the North Pole’s ice pack –a consequence of global warming—could eventually threaten the Canal’s hegemony, as it would open up another short cut between North America, Asia and Europe.

The works are expected to last between seven and eight years.

To expand or not to expand
The need to expand the Canal’s capacity was put in the spotlight last month, one of the busiest months of the year so far. Dozens of vessels were forced to either wait up to nine days to transit the waterway or choose alternative routes. As the Panamanian government prepared to formally announce the modernization project, the Maritime Chamber of Panama sent a letter of concern to the Panama Canal Authority (the entity charged with the management of the waterway) in regards to the recent "traffic jam" at the Canal.

The possibility of expanding the Panama Canal has lingered for decades. The first studies for a third set of locks date from 1939. A number of factors, such as financing, the political situation of the 20th century (strained U.S.-Panama relations, World War II and the Cold War) hindered the project from becoming a reality. The project re-surfaced during the 1980’s, backed by a tri-partite committee (U.S., Panama and Japan), but was later abandoned due to financial concerns and the Noriega dictatorship.

With the restoration of democracy in Panama, President Ernesto Pérez Balladares introduced a law in 1996 that expanded the Panama Canal basin in hopes that the construction of additional lakes would contribute to the possible expansion of the waterway. This angered the residents of the area (western Panama province and northern Coclé), who feared that a possible expansion would entail the relocation of their farming communities.

In Panama City's business and intellectual circles, the move also created much expectation, mainly in regards to finances. While some argued that the expansion would be beneficial for the economy, others wondered about the astronomical cost of the project, thus proposing other alternatives, such as the expansion of the country’s inter-oceanic, multi-modal facilities (the existing railway system and the completion of the Panama City-Colón expressway), which already allow large volumes of containers to be transported across the Isthmus in less than two hours.

With the election of the current president, Martin Torrijos, various sectors have proposed the construction of a "mega-port" catering to "Post-Panamax" vessels, possibly at the former U.S. military base of Howard, near the Pacific terminus of the Canal. Nevertheless, after months of consultation with prominent national and international figures, the Panamanian administration finally decided to push for the expansion project with the construction of a third set of locks –the announcement of which was made in late April capturing the attention of international media. President Torrijos also announced that the project would not entail the construction of additional lakes, thus calming the fears of the communities of western Panama and Coclé.

The project entails the construction of two larger sets of locks.

The project
Although the Panamanian people will make a final decision through a referendum later this year, the "third lock system" is currently the only project firmly proposed in regards to the modernization of the waterway. As of this publication, 70% of Panamanians favor the expansion project.

The following are the general features of the project, entailed in the "Panama Canal 2005-2025 Master Plan"

A. The Locks: The project calls for the addition of a third lane through the construction of two new, wider locks at each end of the waterway. Each set of locks will comprise three chambers for the transit of vessels from sea level to the level of Gatún Lake. Each chamber will include three lateral pools to recycle water –18 pools in all. Just as with the existing locks, the filling and drainage of the pools will be carried out through gravity.

One set of locks will be located on the Atlantic terminus of the waterway, on the eastern bank of Gatún Lake. The other one will be situated southwest of the Miraflores Locks, near the Pacific entrance, as specified in the studies conducted in 1939. The new chambers will be 427 meters (1,400 feet) long by 55 meters (180 feet) wide, and 18.3 meters (60 feet) deep. The gates will feature a wheel system instead of hinges.

B. Navigation channels: The project also entails the construction of new navigation channels connecting the new locks, in addition to the deepening and widening of existing ones. To connect the new Atlantic locks with the Canal’s northern entrance, an access channel measuring 3.2 km will be built, whereas two additional channels will be constructed on the Pacific side, one measuring 6.2 km and the other 1.8 km. All channels will be 218 meters (715 feet) wide.

C. Gatún Lake: The maximum capacity of Gatún Lake will be raised by approximately 0.45 meters (1.5 feet) from its current level, which stands at 26.7 meters (87.5 feet).

Duration and cost of the project: The duration of the works is expected to last between seven and eight years, being operational either in 2014 or 2015. The cost hovers around US$5.2 billion which, according to ACP authorities, will be covered by raising the tolls paid by the ships. Although the project is expected to have a positive effect on the economy with the creation of thousands of jobs, some have expressed their concern about the feasibility of financing the work with the tolls; arguing that such a measure could be counterproductive.

Opportunity in Panama

The shrimp industry generates millions of dollars per year.

Virtually every single square inch of Panama’s national territory can offer endless business opportunities, more so the country’s long coast lines which, apart from tourism activities have an enormous potential for industrial activities.

Landowners of coastal properties, especially land encompassing (or located close to) mangrove formations, can make quick, healthy profits in Panama’s growing shrimp production industry –all of this with an investment of little more than US$10,000 per hectare.

Shrimp is one of the country’s main export crops, a sought-after delicacy in European, North American and Asian markets. Just in the province of Coclé, the country’s largest producer of shrimp, the activity yielded US$148 million in revenue, which represents 20% of Panama’s total shrimp exports. Approximately US$100 million was generated in the small city of Aguadulce alone.

Harvest in the tanks.

Starting a shrimp farm

• The first step is getting the land ready with the construction of pools. The spoils resulting from the excavation are removed, leaving the pools ready for water to pour in.
• The amount of water is controlled through a special inlet and outlet system.
• Lime hydrate is added to the land in order to kill the weed .
• The water is poured into the pools though a filtering system.
• The shrimp larvae is nurtured in separate containers before it is placed in the pools.
• The growth cycle lasts approximately four months, after which the shrimp is ready for harvest. The optimum export weight should be between 14 and 18 grams, although the breeding specimens can weigh between 40 and 45 grams.

The entire cycle takes place twice a year. Once harvested, the shrimp is taken to a processing plant for quality control tests. It is cleaned, packed and frozen prior to shipment.

The cost of preparing a farm, including the construction of the pools, ranges between US$7,000.00 and US$8,000.00 per hectare. The cycle control process costs around US$2,500 every two years.

Shrimp farming has been done for centuries in Asia, using traditional low-density methods. Indonesian brackish water ponds called tambaks can be traced back as far as the 15th century. Shrimp were farmed on a small scale in ponds, in monocultures or together with other species such as milkfish, or in rotation with rice, using the rice paddies for shrimp cultures during the dry season, when no rice could be grown. Such traditional cultures often were small operations in coastal areas or on river banks. Mangrove areas were favoured because of their naturally abundant supply of shrimp. Wild juvenile shrimp were trapped in ponds and reared on naturally occurring organisms in the water until they had the desired size and then were harvested.

Most farms produce one to two harvests a year; in tropical climates, a farm may even produce three. Because of the need for salt water, shrimp farms are located on or near a coast. Inland shrimp farms have also been tried in some regions, but the need to ship salt water and competition for land with agricultural users led to problems.

Mr. Faustino Cabadas

Mr. Faustino Cabadas, a.k.a. "Tato", of Aguadulce, is one of the most successful shrimp farmers in Panama and currently serves as chariman of Asociación de Productores de Camarón –the association of local shrimp producers. His farms cover 480 hectares. He told The Visitor that despite a number of setbacks in recent years (shrimp diseases and illegal competition,) the business continues to be very profitable. Mr. Cabadas also stated that the industry is a great source of jobs in the region. "Between 5 and 10 indirect jobs are created for every person directly involved in the business. We are talking about the additional workforce needed to produce plastics, provide refrigeration and fuel and engage in harvesting works," he said. Mr. Cabadas also explained that the shrimp industry causes no harm to the delicate mangrove ecosystems and the activity naturally revives mangrove areas.

Einstein's monument, in El Cangrejo.

It is said that the contents of Albert Einstein's head were larger than usual –the natural repository of an incredible intellectual treasure. In Panama, a large sculpture of his head helps many Panamanians memorize directions.

If you live or drive through the El Cangrejo district in Panama City, there is no way to avoid it. If you are looking for directions in the area in a taxi, the driver will most likely ask you "is it anywhere close to "Einstein's Head?"

Located on Calle Alberto Einstein just a few meters off Via Argentina, la Cabeza de Einstein has greeted pasers-by since the late 1960's when the municipal government decided to erect a monument to honor of the country's Jewish community. Carlos Arboleda a renowned Panamanian sculptor educated in Italy and Spain, was commissioned for the project, which originally bore a plaque with the inscription E= mc_, which has mysteriously dissapeared with time. Arboleda supervised the delicate task of installating the "Head" in its present location.

Albert Einstein visited Panama at least once in his lifetime as part of a trans-oceanic voyage via the Panama Canal. During that trip, which took place in the late 1920's, he visited his friend and former classmate, Florencio H. Arosemena, who served as President of Panama during that time.

Dr. Pablo Rojas Pardini presented his technique at New York's Columbia University, Orlando and San Francisco.

A new procedure to correct crowded teeth without having to revert to extraction has been devised and developed by Panamanian orthodontist Dr. Pablo Rojas Pardini, a graduate of Columbia University, New York. The innovative wire-threading procedure was presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Orthodontists in Orlando, in 2004, and in San Francisco in 2005.

Traditional methods
The widening of the inter-dental spaces in the anterior and posterior crowded cases is one of the major problems that orthodontists face. The decision to extract or not to extract a tooth often presents dilemmas, risks and limitations in these cases. Traditional, non-extraction methods in mild cases of crowded teeth entail the use of pressure to the "problem tooth" in order to create the inter-proximal space.

Before
After

Wire-threading procedure
Dr. Rojas Pardini’s innovative method consists of placing brackets on the labial of the properly aligned teeth, contrary to traditional techniques, which entailed the application of brackets on the ill-positioned tooth (lingual side.) When passing the wire from the labial side to the lingual side, in other words, joining the brackets with the wire in an interlaced manner, an opening tensional action is exercised upon the wire in order to make space for the ill-positioned tooth.

The wire is passed under the contact point and over the dental papilla and by changing the position on the bottom bracket, it is possible to obtain the desired position of the ill-positioned tooth.

The wire that surrounds the ill-positioned tooth creates continuous tension, which has been proven to be better accepted by surrounding tissue when compared to traditional methods, which use coil springs or arches.

The innovative method reduces the risk factors and limitations associated with many teeth crowding cases, especially those affecting the periodontal tissue, the Temporo mandibular joint and the patient’s facial features.

For more information, call (507) 264-1625, or write to the following e-mail: rojaspardini@cwpanama.net