Bananas Industry woes
The crisis continues in the financial situation of the Multiple Services Cooperative of Puerto Armuelles (COOSEMUPAR), the cooperative formed by the union of the workers of the former Chiriqui Land Company which pulled out of the banana business in Panama´s Western region some time ago.

The Cooperative owes nearly $20 million to the National Bank, $3 million to Chiquita Brands and $5 million to 155 suppliers. In addition the cooperative owes $2.5 million of employer-employee contributions to the Social Security Fund --the highest amount of any other entity.

In the face of financial ruin, leaders of COOSEMUPAR are considering a scheme to manufacture flour from unsold bananas but their main hope is a to try to get a better deal from the international company, Chiquita Brands. The legal advisor of the cooperative averred: "There is no way to continue" if there are no modifications to the special and general conditions of the contract for the sale of fruit.

If the workers could hold out until 2011, they would get some relief. This is the date that Government sources calculate that the refinery in Port Armuelles will begin to function. This project will cost between US$5 and US$6-billion and generate some 6,000 jobs.

Trade with Ticos
Panama and Costa Rica have resumed negotiations for a free trade agreement. Panama expects Costa Rica to speak about the opening of its financial services and telecommunications, two businesses it handles as state monopolies. In turn, Costa Rica wants Panama to open up its market for milk products and pork.

Bocas land probe
The rapid development of Bocas del Toro by foreign investors and retirees is coming under review. After a tour of the province of Bocas del Toro, the Environmental Commission of the National Assembly approved a resolution that requests that a tourism and ecological plan be initiated by the competent authorities in that region. In the resolution, the Department of Land Registry of the Department of Economy and Finances is urged to initiate an investigation into the origin of the documentation presented by new owners of lands.

Canal Congestion continues
The number of ships waiting to transit the Panama Canal recently reached 103. Waiting time could increase to five days to cross the canal, it was reported by the canal administration. The canal is using all its resources to attend this demand in traffic, including the new tie-up stations located under the Centennial Bridge, at the Pacific entrance.

Definition of Democracy
It is not democracy that is failing in Latin America, but the strength of the institutions, that has produced, in part, the present crisis in the political parties of the region, said former president of Spain, Felipe Gonzalez, during the opening of the CADE 2006 conference. He said democracy is not what guarantees good government. It only guarantees that the leaders that are not liked can be thrown out.

Lobbying for the Canal's expansion
As the date of the announcement on the final decision regarding the expansion of the Panama Canal approaches, (expected anytime as this issue went to press) President Martín Torrijos is engaged in a lobby campaign to get the support of a number of prominent figures, including former presidents of Panama, for the monumental project, considered the largest in the country since the Canal opened to international shipping over 90 years ago. During a meeting with the President earlier this month at the Herons Palace, Mireya Moscoso, Torrijos' predecesor, stated that "the expansion of the Canal will be of great benefit for the country". Other former Panamanian Heads of State scheduled for interviews with Torrijos, Jorge Illueca and Ernesto Pérez-Balladares, are expected to adhere to the project, but another ex-president, Guillermo Endara, has expressed his dissaproval, due to the "excessive secrecy surrounding the Canal's modernization plan".

For a number of years, the topic of the expansion of the Canal has surfaced on the agenda of many governments until the Torrijos administration decided to make it a top priority two years ago. Its first oponents were the small landowners of the Canal basin, who feared the expansion would imply a possible relocation of their communities.

The oponents of the project in Panama City's intellectual circles, argue that a project of such a magnitude would make the country fall deeper into debt (although the Canal's deputy administrator, Manuel Benítez, recently stated that the project would be financed in eight years with a raise in toll rates.) Others argue that the expansion of the Canal is unnecessary, since only 7% of the world's ships is considered "post-Panamax" and that the construction of a "mega-port" on the Pacific could cater to these vessels using the existing multi-modal, ocean-to-ocean facilities.

If the government decides to formally support an expansion, the people of Panama will have the final word through a referendum.

Geoforestal S.A.

Twelve years ago Mr. Jorge Fuentes of Penonome realized that the increasing number of people investing in re-forestation needed help to set up their farms. So he formed a company to develop a tree nursery, called it Geoforestal S.A. and began experimenting with large-scale production of seedlings and saplings.

The business was an almost immediate success, growth has been constant and the nursery, at Santa Maria de la Pintada in the Province of Cocle, now covers 15 hectareas. In the first three months of this year, the company has sold 886,000 seedlings.

But it´s not just selling trees. Geoforestal’s S.A. offer to land owners and companies dedicated to selling shares in re-forestation projects is to make it easy to start their plantations. The company analyses the soil, prepares the land, plants the trees at the recommended density of 1,111 trees per hectarea and overseas their care, with guarantee, for one year. This costs $1,500 per hectarea.

The seeds for most of the trees come from Honduras. They are placed in water for eight days before planting in seed plots of river sand until they germinate. The seedlings are then planted in small containers in a special organic mixture which includes rice husks, chicken manure, bagasse and charcoal. The containers feature mesh bottoms but are suspended in the air so that the roots never touch the soil. In about three months they are big enough to plant in the ground.

In one year from planting they grow to from two to three meters depending on the species and the fertility of the sail. ft. In four to six years they will be tall enough to thin out so that the remaining trees have a healthy journey to maturity.

The types of lumber trees on offer are: Cedar (Cedro Amargo and Cedro Espino), African Mahogany, Amarillo Amazonico, Teak, Caribbean Pine, Mountain Almond (Almendro de Montaña) Poinciana (Acacia Magniums) and Eucalyptus.

Geoforestal S.A. also offers fruit trees such as Paw Paw (Papaya), Breadfruit, Soursop (Guanabano) and citrus, and many ornamental bushes and flowers.

Contact: Geoforestal S.A. 983-0219.

After overcoming a number of financial obstacles, Panama's Biodiversity Museum is now about to be build. Six local banks have agreed to lend US$30.5 million for the construction of the project, which will start on May 15.

Located on eight hectares of the Amador peninsula –one of the fastest growing tourist areas of the country-- the museum will be the first work of renowned Canadian architect Frank O. Gehry in Latin America. It has been envisioned as a tribute to the role played by the Isthmus of Panama as a biological bridge between North and South America.

Clinica Boyd offers:

The Wavelight Excimer Laser technology can improve vision defects conidered untreatable only a few years ago.

Imagine waking up one morning to see the same scene but brighter than ever before, with things appearing more clearly. When you look through the window you can see small details you never noticed before, without using glasses, contact lenses or binoculars.

This is the experience after operations to correct defects of vision known as "refractive" such as myopia or astigmatism using the surgical technique (LASIK). These treatments are also used for people with good vision, but who want to improve their vision still further.

"It is brighter than having a 20/20 vision", says Dr. Samuel Boyd, member of the medical group of Boyd Clinic. This institution is in the vanguard of specialized technology for these procedures, made with Wavelight Excimer Laser equipment.

Falcon Vision
"The cornea has enough capacity to see better than it usually does", says Dr. Boyd, who explains that as a natural lens, the cornea is not perfect or flat, and these imperfections can now be corrected with the laser, which was originally designed for correcting the distortion of images from big telescope lenses and has now been adapted to the ophthalmology area.

Until a short time ago, the imperfections of vision that could be repaired with the Excimer Lase were only those of low order like myopia or astigmatism. With the new system "other visual effects" can be treated. These aberrations of high order can be found even in persons with a 20/20 vision, but who cannot see perfectly.

Dr. Boyd added: In many cases when we say ´20/20´ we are talking about quantity and not quality and this can be improved with an intervention that flattens and polishes the cornea surface. He added that 80% of visual defects are of low order and the other 20% are aberrations that now can be treated with the Excimer Laser.

The professionals at the Boyd Clinic and Lasik Eyenet are doing these interventions using modern Excimer Laser equipment with a high percent of successful corrections in less time than with early Excimer Laser equipment.

However, it should be made clear that not everyone has the capacity to develop superior vision because it all depends on the concentration of photoreceptor cells, the condition of the retina, but a high percent of people who try this intervention achieve a "superior vision", because they have the correct number of photoreceptors.

U.S. banks are notorious for selling your financial information to the highest bidder. And laws like the USA PATRIOT Act now require your assets be frozen if a computer decides you've committed a "suspicious transaction," for actions as innocuous as suddenly paying off your credit card bill–or failing to pay it off. And wealthy people in many countries, particularly in Central and South America, often become victims of extortion, kidnapping or other crimes if details of their financial activities fall into the wrong hands.

Things are different in Panama, where Sovereign Society members will gather May 17-20 for The Sovereign Society's Total Wealth Symposium.

Panamanian bank secrecy laws are among the world's toughest. Sections 84, 85 and 86 of the Banking Act of 1998 prohibit banks from revealing account information to non-bank employees only to specified authorities in the course of a criminal prosecution. This applies to all employees, consultants and external auditors. Any breach of this confidentiality may be subject to a fine of up to US$100,000. The victim of such a breach is also free to bring civil and potentially criminal charges against persons who breach this duty.

These laws haven't gone unnoticed by the network of global busybodies who claim to be keeping the world safe from criminals, terrorists and tax evaders.

Just a few days apart in June 2000, the Financial Action Task Force and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development placed Panama on the FATF's money laundering blacklist and the OECD's harmful tax competition blacklist.

The FATF and OECD threatened various sanctions to blacklisted nations, including the possibility of being banished from global money transfer networks. A principal demand from the FATF was that Panama lift bank secrecy laws in money laundering investigations. In turn, the OECD demanded Panama begin disclosing information on the bank accounts of foreign nationals to their respective home tax authorities.

Panama's response to both initiatives was masterful. To get off the FATF blacklist, it brought in outside experts to rewrite its money laundering law to insure that truly dirty money could be tracked down and eradicated from the financial system. It beefed up customer identification procedures, instituted an office to track laundered money and enacted a law requiring the reporting of certain cash transactions exceeding US$10,000. Panama was subsequently removed from the FATF blacklist.

The Sovereign Society will host the "Total wealth symposium, May 17-20, 2006 at the Intercontinental Playa Bonita Resort & Spa."

But Panama didn't give in to the OECD. Instead, it engaged in a public relations full-court press against it. Panama pointed to the hypocrisy of exempting financial centers such as the US, and UK from the harmful tax blacklist, when independent studies had shown these countries were engaged in the same practices the OECD condemned.

Unlike so many other offshore jurisdictions that surrendered to the OECD, Panama hinged its cooperation on all jurisdictions - whether members of the OECD or not - being dealt with on an equal footing. Since the largest member of the OECD is the US, which engages in a variety of tax practices the OECD brands "harmful," it seems unlikely Panama will cooperate with the OECD in any meaningful way for the foreseeable future. That means the key OECD demand of overriding Panamanian bank secrecy to provide home country tax collectors with account information won't be met anytime soon.

Panama maintained a similar attitude when EU bureaucrats tried to convince Panamanian officials to embrace the EU Savings Tax Directive, which provides for interest payments earned by EU nationals in EU bank accounts to be reported to home country tax collectors. When Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg were exempted from the information exchange provisions of the Directive, Panama scorned the hypocrisy in this arrangement and again refused to participate in it.

The US hasn't been much more successful than the OECD or EU. Short of invading Panama, which it did in 1989, the US simply doesn't have strategic leverage over Panama. Panama's namesake canal gives the US incentive to maintain peace and prosperity with Panama. From a practical standpoint, that means the US hasn't aggressively pressured Panama to abandon bank secrecy, although the Treasury Department regularly criticizes Panama for not signing a Tax Information Exchange Agreement, as it has forced many other offshore centers to do.

The bottom line is that in spite of immense outside pressure, Panama has vigorously defended its bank secrecy laws, and is likely to continue to do so in the future. As with any bank secrecy law in today's world, if you're suspected of committing a crime, and investigators know where to look, Panama will cooperate. There's even a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty in effect with the US to facilitate cooperation in criminal matters, although it doesn't cover tax matters with the exception of tax fraud.

And Panama is hardly a banking backwater. It is the largest financial center south of it nearest rival, Miami. Seventy-three banks (June 2005) hold over $40 billion in assets, mainly from offshore clients. Real GDP expanded a heady 6.4% in 2005 and future growth outlook is strong.

Of course, with the USA PATRIOT Act in effect, there's no bank secrecy law in the world that can prevent the US from trying to strong-arm a foreign bank into disclosing information about a depositor. Not to mention US laws require U.S. persons to disclose foreign bank accounts if their assets exceed US$10,000. Fail to comply with this requirement, and you face mandatory fines of US$10,000/year plus possible criminal penalties. But it's comforting to know that Panama is one of only a handful of the world's countries that has consistently resisted weakening privacy and asset protection laws in response to outside pressure.

Fishing for Peacock Bass

By Larry Larsen

It’s pretty easy to lose count of the fish landed here," Fidel Reyes said as he reared back on another peacock bass.

He was right about the difficulty of keeping track of these aggressive peacock bass or "sargentos," as locals call them, from Panama’s Lake Gatun. The fish that the Gamboa Rainforest Resort’s General Manager had just pulled in did resemble many we had already caught and released. Our guide Jose "Puma" Rodriquez was kept mighty busy grabbing new bait from our boat’s livewell. We had already landed over 50 peacocks during our 3-hour trip on this scenic lake, part of the Panama Canal.

The word "Panama" means abundance of fish and that’s certainly true on Gatun. Peacock bass were seemingly everywhere and always hungry. On almost every cast with a live "sardine" minnow, a peacock would slam the bait. Reyes seemed glad to have taken a few hours off from running the resort on the Chagres River just off the Canal. We had both caught several doubles, and every fish was aerobatic.

We explored several nice areas around Barro Colorado Island and every spot held numerous fish. Only the size and corresponding strength of their fight varied. Artificials worked as well; they often catch larger fish, but can be slightly less productive than the small minnows. Topwater, minnowbaits and even small spinnerbaits are effective here.

Rodriquez, who has been guiding on the lake for 27 years, the last six out of this resort, couldn’t even keep track of our tally. He did note that we exceeded the average catch of 25 fish per angler in a six-hour trip.

"Some anglers boat 80 peacocks in a day, and many are in the 3- to 5-pound range," he says. "The largest peacock ever taken from our marina was 12 pounds and the big fish in last spring’s tournament was a 9-pounder."

Gamboa Rainforest Resort.

It’s usually easier to catch bigger fish in the rainy season when water in the lake is higher and cooler. The season’s high point usually happens at the end of October, when waters reach the base of shoreline trees. During dry season, peacocks move out deeper to hang out in cooler water.

The water level of Gatun, the third largest manmade impoundment in the world, is maintained by the Canal authority and when it approaches four feet, they open the locks and drain some if rain appears imminent. As a result, the Chagres River, the main tributary entering the lake, is known as the only river in the world that flows into two oceans. There is a 26-foot difference between the lake and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans on each end of the Canal.

While this lake is considered a peacock bass fishery, a little secret is that snook are plentiful in the deeper channels running through the lake and along the Canal. In fact snook are common in the lake, particularly during higher water in October and November. The lake record is a 32-pounder and during the last major tournament in March, the largest snook weighed in was a 27-pounder. In that tournament, which had categories for peacock bass, snook, tarpon and the grand slam (all three), one guy landed six snook.

"In the high waters, there is less dredging of the canal (which is ongoing throughout the year)," says Reyes. "As a result, the water is clearer and not as turbid. Snook can see the lures easier."

I had to try out the snook action for myself. Reyes and I set out two large Rapalas and trolled along a channel running through the lake. The bait moved maybe 200 feet before my rodtip jerked down; a 5- or 6-pound snook took to the air. Reyes and our guide chuckled. Snook here average about 10 to 13 pounds, according to Rodriquez, so mine was a baby.

"I guess they really are common," I said, as the guide scooped up the snook. "That took about two minutes. I just wish tarpon were that easy!"

The tarpon are not, but a few are certainly caught each year in the canal or lake. One, a 125-pounder, was even taken right in front of the resort. Big bull sharks are caught around here, too.

The resort marina houses the charter fleet, which consists of 13 fiberglass boats of 17 feet in length, powered by 85 and 90 horsepower outboards.

There are many small Lake Gatun tournaments out of the Gamboa Resort Marina plus a bi-annual international tournament that occurs in March and again in October each year. Those months are the normal beginning and ending months of the dry season, which is the busy fishing time on the lake. Many of the resort’s boats are chartered each day then and a little over half are booked throughout the year, in the dry and rainy season. Many local corporations book several boats for "team building" exercises. Approximately 70 percent of charter trips are booked by Americans.

The Gamboa Rainforest Resort, which is less than six years old, lies 20 miles from Panama City.

Hotel Melia in Colon.

These two Canadian adventurers were spotted by our cameraman when they paused awhile in the town of Nata in Veraguas province. Sean Christopher Conway and Arjen Van Eekelen are cycling from Canada to Argentina "to learn Spanish and make friends" and prepare to be career diplomats. They are seen here in front of the ancient Church in Nata.

Their emails are: scconway@alumni.sfu.ca; arjenvaneekelen@hotmail.com