Who was the Grinch who spoiled Panamas Christmas parade?

From the Christmas Sidelines

Is Panama’s  floundering mayor the Grinch who stole Panama’s Christmas parade or, as in the past, will the buck be passed  down the line?

Now this is just one observer’s viewpoint, but after enduring for over an hour at this year’s apology for a Christmas event, I have to confess that it was the worst organized and the furthest away from seasonal festivities I have ever witnessed.

My view was supported by some recently arrived Canadians, but they were a prejudiced group, having witnessed Toronto’s spectacular Santa Parade in 

November, where the ensuing litter was cleared from roads and sidewalks within 20 minutes of the passing of the floats and bands.
Some Panamanians who had bused in from Pacora, the flood afflicted area east of Panama, without a comparison level, departed homewards after enduring the Bosco spectacular for 30 minutes.
So what went wrong. Seemingly everything.
The on off, on off parade which, a year ago the mayor decided to cancel in favor of his scandal ridden plastic charade on the Cinta Costera (perhaps more visibly stultifying this year than last) was scheduled for a 4 p.m. start, guaranteeing that with inevitable delays the parade would be seen after dark.

At 6.35 p.m. my guests and I made our way along Avenida Balboa heading eat to Parque Urraca where the parade was programmed to end. We got our first hint of the chaos to come when we found the parade route crammed with spectators who had been waiting for hours. They filled the road, and no signs of crowd control and a limited presence of police. 

Hundreds were already leaving to board buses parked in side streets or to make the long walk home.
But thousands with their young children hung on, and were rewarded a few minutes before seven with the sound of music. A bombero band emerged from the gloom and bravely forced its way through the obstructed thoroughfare, followed by a police band dressed in their natty new blue uniforms.
A joyful curtain raiser, but then the anti-climax. No clowns, majorettes, characters on stilts or colorful floats that pleased the eyes in years past. Instead b an unending stream of old cars pushing the crowd aside as they crept along at Calle 50 rush hour speed, and celebrating Silent Night with heavy feet revving engines to display the masculinity of the drivers.

But there were more toys for the boys to come After 20 minutes, the antiques, some behind the wheels, were followed by go karts, and ATVs, which jerked and bounced dangerously, some driven by those with middle aged spread but adolescent yearnings, others by genuine boys, some who seemed just out of diapers.
Interspersed were pickups plastered with advertising one, actually carrying a Santa. If he was calling Ho! Ho! Ho!, it couldn’t be heard, because by now scores of motor cycles appeared adding 

more ear shattering rev-ups to the Christmas choir as they cruised in stops and starts, dangerously close to the spectators. By now the air was filled with acrid gasoline fumes, visible under the lights, and my throat was burning. This on the day that the head of Anam announced that Panama was not doing enough to counteract global warming.
I hung on until 8.15. and with no sign of Christmas, left with my companions to join hundreds of others heading away. I hope for the sake of the stalwarts who remained that better things came. But if Mayor Bosco Vallarino is till around next year, I doubt that I will venture out to see a repeat of the Christmas engine chorus, and I know some visitors from abroad and Pacora, who will find better things to do.
As we walked past a building site on Balboa with a spotlight burning like a giant candle, we heard music from within. A recording of “Feliz Navidad”. At last, a touch of Christmas. {jathumbnail off}