OPINION: Third World habits

IN PANAMA   it is preferable to inaugurate new works rather than give maintenance and good care to those existing. How to explain that the hospital San Miguel Arcángel remains totally closed for another month? A major bridge at Villa Lucre was hit by a truck, and traffic in much of the city is entangled more than it already was. The Cold Chain increases its budget, but the existing markets of San Felipe Neri and Central de Abastos are not giving the population the service they should. Meanwhile, a fully renovated hospital in Las Tablas is vandalized for lack of surveillance, and many other government buildings, schools, health centers and public offices suffer the same fate or are surrounded by weeds, and wrapped in the silt of eternal leaks. In any visit to a patio of some state institution, it is easy to find tons of scrap and damaged vehicles. All these examples define us as a wasteful political and throw-away culture. With that mentality, the future will never be better. How can we hope to become a  first world country if we cannot overcome the habits of Third Worldism? …La Prensa. Sep. 12