bedrooms to be demo'd in apartment
The second day of cleaning and repairing at our fixer-upper went slowly because it was much dirtier than we imagined when we got down to the details of it. But the day was ruined by the neighbors across the street and down a couple of doors; they blasted their stereo so loud that it gave us headaches and it went on all day. Sudarshani did not want to live here after hearing that. She went to the local cops to find out what could be done and they said that nothing could be done except to go to the Corregidor and get a summons to force the neighbors to a hearing like we did in Colón. That was a lot of hassle and these raca-taca looked like they were not going to be influenced by that gambit. In fact, we were told by a local that these are the toughs of the area and not to mess with them; even the cops won’t.
So we are very discouraged at this point. We have a lot of materials to install and we do intend to put our stuff in the apartment and stop paying rent on storage. But living here seems to be a long-shot at this time. It’s difficult to get life together when you have the choice between two rough neighborhoods. We did get out to have lunch at the Japanese fish market that was next door to the local building supply store. This large enclosed warehouse-like store is located right on the shore and is where the fishing boats come in to wholesale a huge variety of seafood caught fresh that night. There is a restaurant upstairs with a great view of San Felipe to the right and the high rises of Paitilla (one of the new downtown centers) to the left.
We were talking to our cab driver about the crime rate in Panamá city and how people are getting killed when guns are illegal. This is how he told it: it went back to General Manuel Noriega -who killed General Omar Torrijos in the 1970’s and took over the existing military dictatorship. Noriega built up the military even more than had his predecessor and continued the tradition of establishing strict order in the country. You wouldn’t see any of the street crime that you see today. Drugs were non-existent because he made a deal with the Colombians: they could launder money but they couldn’t bring their cocaine, marijuana or anything else into Panamá. This was a very quiet country for a while (but also very intimidated by omnipotent and untouchable military police). Then Noriega started to use a heavy hand on dissenters and the political opposition by breaking up marches and beating and jailing protesters. (Sounds like the USA)
So the political opposition (the wealthy families who used to rule) lobbied the US gov’t for help in getting rid of Noriega in the name of democratic reform. That’s when the US attacked Panamá, ousted Noriega and dismantled his military forces. In order to defend against the attack, Noriega distributed all of the military weapons and ammunition to his civilian followers in Colón, in Panamá city and in other cities. The idea was to mount a guerrilla war in the streets; but it didn’t materialize and so everyone stashed their weapons at home. The US tried using a “buy-back” program to get the guns back but most remained hidden. That’s how a lot of guns eventually found their way into the hands of gangs and that is why there is a lot of gun-play at night in both cities. Even now the gov’t tries, occasionally, to buy back ammunition from the citizenry in an effort to slow down the growth of violence.
So we can blame Noriega for the guns; but not for the huge drug trade going on today. That bit of social progress is the legacy of the democratic gov’t whose elected leaders are easy marks for drug money. They somehow fail to pass substantial preventive legislation; and the executive branch fails to support the weakened police forces who wink at the drug lords. Under this oligarchy of wealthy families who run a sham of a democracy, Panamanian society has become an uncivilized jungle in the poorer neighborhoods and more dangerous in the middle class and wealthy neighborhoods. At least the citizens are now free to protest. I think that the wealthy rulers wanted to get into the Colombian trade and that’s why the subsequently elected leaders worked for them for perks and bribes. They must have hated Noriega because he wouldn’t let them use Panamá as a drug conduit, thus hurting their bottom lines.
