$30,000 a month spin doctor facing tough slog with Panamas image

In a week in which Panama’s world image has taken a beating from many sides, the news has come out that a US spin doctor is being paid $30,000 a month to polish the country's tarnished profile..

President Ricardo Martinelli has been receiving negative publicity in the Wall Street Journal and  Time Magazine, and in an international corruption report, Panama got a failing grade.

The country has also been suspended by the International Olympic Committee and removed from contention to host the Bolivarian Games.
A report in La Prensa  says that a former consultant to George W. Bush has been on contract since January, at $ 30,000 A month.

The purpose of the contract to Terry Holt, , was to giving the country a good image internationally, " Minister of the Presidency, Demetrio Papadimitriu told La Prensa in March.
The contract was to assess relations with the U.S. media, not for lobbying or to influence foreign policy. Holt would be paid $ 15,000 a month, he said.

But U.S. government documents indicating that the agreement with Panama is twice that rate. Holt states that for the first five months of the contract, the Panamanian government paid 162 698.40

The documents also include a copy of the contract between Holt’s company, HDMK and the Presidency, which was supposed to run from January 1 to October 1 this year. The Presidency has not provided information on the life of the contract with Holt and the level of remuneration.
Holt described his responsibilities as "providing public relations advice regarding communications and media strategy addressed to the American public in general."

But in the last week, two influential publications, Time and The Wall Street Journal have published articles portraying Martinelli in a negative light.

On Wednesday Martinelli responded to the corruption perception index, and the two publications criticizing his autocratic style and labeling him a strong man.

On the corruption report, released by Transparency International, Martinelli said that "people in Panama who make these evaluations would destroy this country. They seem to have another agenda. "
On the international media he said that the articles in Time Magazine and The Wall Street Journal-were written by journalists “who have never spoken well of me or the country. I never would have expected them to say something nice about me.”