Panama financial tower project quashed

A week ago a group of activists “dynamited” a column of boxes packed with money, representing the 70 story financial tower planned for Avenida Balboa.

Now, according to La Estrella, President  Ricardo Martinelli  has followed suit, and the  $250,000 million tower  that was to have been built on the site of the former US Embassy, is dead.

The project,  says Estrella, was a victim of a new strategy as Martinelli strives to regain some of his waning popularity. His advisors are said to have advised the president to set aside projects that might arouse antagonism in the population.
The 'Tusa' or Financial Tower, the brainchild of former Finance Minister Alberto Vallarino, became the first victim of the government strategy.
According to Dichter & Neira poll, in June, 82.5% of respondents were against the project, but the government did not waver in the intention of carrying it out.

The tower was opposed by 15 citizens groups, by architects and engineers and by staff of Santo Tomas hospital  when they discovered that the tower  would infringe on the hospital’s historic grounds,

Activists had  earlier opposed the demolition of the former embassy which they wanted used for a cultural center, or to house a museum.

The same activists have been involved in battling the creation of a beltway around Casco Viejo as part of the extension of the Cinta Costera.

For Patrizia Pinzon who heads AVACA, a community group of residents and businesses in Casco Viejo, it’s one down and one to go.

The government is meeting with a delegation from Unesco this month to present its reviews of three options for the third phase of the coastal strip.

Opponents plan to festoon the old city with flags and banners opposing the encircling beltway or a causeway from Avenida Balboa to Avenida de Las Poetas fronting Chorillo,

For Patrizia Pinzon, who heads  Casco Viejo residents’ group AVACA, fighting the government’s Cinta Costera plans, it’s one down and one to go.