Waked vs American cold and immovable iceberg

THE U.S. Ambassador to Panama John Feeley  has compared the situation of the company owning two Panama newspapers with that of a boat in a storm that requires a change in the wheelhouse.

“If the captain [of the ship] does not give way, I have nothing to say,” said Feeley, who last December suggested that Abdul Waked,sell his majority stake in GESE the company  owning , La Estrella and El Siglo.

GESE President Eduardo Quirós  has extended the metaphor reports La Prensa.

“I agree with the ambassador, we are at sea and there is a storm, and maybe even worse than that but what he failed to say is that the United States government is behaving like an iceberg, cold and immovable, and the crew of this ship are not only the 250 employees, it is also freedom of expression.”

In May, the U.S. included all Waked companies, including GESE, on the Clinton list for money laundering and drug trafficking.

Inclusion on the list prevents the papers from engaging in any transactions with U.S. entities, which prohibits it from buying products from the U.S. and engaging in transactions with credit cards with ties to U.S. banks. The papers received a temporary license to operate, but it expires Thursday Jan. 5.

Waked has refused to divest himself from his majority interest in the papers.

The government of Panama has also tried to intervene in the stand off without success.