The case of Grupo F

By Ted James

What should by now be one of Panama’s most spectacular tourist attractions is delayed and frustrated by a combination of vested and political interest groups says its promoter. In an exclusive interview with The Visitor, Jean Figali, president of Grupo F Internacional, said that the maneuvers of these groups were being made with the intention of having him walk away from his development on the Amador Causeway so that they can step in and take it over for free.

Mr. Figali said that his father was Italian and his mother Lebanese and that his father had been successful as a trader in the Colon Free Zone.

With his inheritance, Mr. Figali founded the Figali Emporium on Via España selling men’s and women’s fashion clothing and accessories.

Part of the Figali complex, l/r the Moonlight Building, the Casino, the Hotel.

He explained that during the past political administration of Mireya Moscoso an area of land including the old military barracks of the US Army and later the Panama Defense Forces became available for development on the Amador Causeway.

“Nobody wanted to take it on and try and develop this area. I suggested a convention center, an Avenue of Fashion and a hotel casino complex. Mireya Moscoso and her government particularly liked the idea of the Avenue of Fashion that could compete with Miami as a fashion center of the Americas,” Figali said.

The Figali Convention Center was completed just in time for the Miss Universe Contest in 2003.

Mr. Figali is proud of the part he played in helping bring Panama to the attention of the world by convincing Donald Trump to bring the Miss Universe contest to Panama in 2003 so that the Panamanian winner could hand on her crown to a successor. Mr. Figali sold his department store and invested more than $40 million in developing the Amador project.

“We built the convention center. The 378-room hotel with 65 suites is ready to operate and we are making extensions to it. The Avenue of Fashion is ready to launch,” he said.

“I used my contacts with European fashion houses to attract their interest, and they all like it,” he said, “Now they are asking me what’s the hold-up and when can they get going.”

“We’ve just been constantly frustrated by hold-ups with permits. It’s affecting the hotel, the Avenue of Fashion and the marina that we want as part of this tourist complex,” he said, adding that he believes he can identify the powers that are blocking his development project, which he thinks is caused by envy.

Aerial view of the project showing the landfill in the foreground.

Most criticism leveled against Mr. Figali originated in the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) for the development of the marina that he has been making with a land?ll opposite the hotel and convention center.

He pointed out that a number of other marinas have been created with land?lls on the Amador Causeway without the same opposition.

“The first, on Flamenco Island, just went ahead without question because of political connections as did another. A third, more recent land reclamation for a marina, has taken about three times the area that we are planning,” he said.

Lawyer-journalist José Gabriel Carrillo Acedo, Vice president of Grupo F, pointed out that the pressure placed on the project had even gone as far as the AMP sending police to forcibly take custody of the marina project.“This is an unlawful act when a reconsideration appeal is pending in a court of law, as was happening in this case,” Carrillo Acedo said“ Mr. Figali and I cannot understand why government entities are being used to frustrate this tourist development project,” he said. “The government tells us that there is a shortage of hotel rooms in Panama. It says it wants to create more job opportunities. It tells the public that it wants to support businessmen to compete with other centers such as Miami,” he said. “All the actions we have seen taken against the Grupo F show just the opposite.

Fashion Boulevard— the idea designed to
compete with Miami as a fashion center
of the Americas.

“There would be hundreds of jobs available in the hotel, the boutiques of the Avenue of Fashion and the marina if we were given the permits needed and could begin operation,” said Mr. Carrillo.

“These are all known these days as ‘green jobs’ in the ‘industry without chimneys’ – tourism,” he said.

“Panama is no longer a small forgotten tropical town. It is making its mark as an international tourist destination and it has a booming economy attracting both local and foreign investment.“

However, if our governments allow themselves to be used by envious special interest groups to block these attractive development projects and create judicial insecurity, then investors will no longer see Panama as holding that special position,” Mr. Carrillo added.

The Visitor contacted the Maritime Authority of Panama and they declined comment at the present time.