Panama a  Dying Democracy?

The two-pronged assault on press freedom in Panama via the country’s notoriously  “susceptible” justice system has produced few reactions from Newsroom readers intent on denouncing real or imaginary infringements of mobility rights during the pandemic.

But last  weekend author Phil Edmonston, a former Canadian MP (Member of Parliament) and  previous  chair of Democrats Abroad in Panama decided  enough was enough and wrote:

A dying Democracy

I am ashamed to be so angry on a Sunday­ a day I usually tuck away for positive thoughts and good works.

Two of  Panama’s former presidents (Ernesto “El Toro”  Balladare 1944-98 and Ricardo “Loco” Martinelli 2009 -2014) are trying to shut down our free press by reactivating a multimillion dollar sequestration petition against La Prensa, attached to an 8-year-old dormant defamation lawsuit.

Hopefully, this petition will lose on appeal. And as John Milton predicted, we shall see: “Truth and Falsehood grapple in a free and open encounter.” https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/milton-areopagitica-1644-jebb-ed. 

La Prensa has covered  Panama’s political scene through the Noriega dictatorship and has supported a free press and civil rights in every way.

As iconic civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis (R.I.P,) said so eloquently before Washington’s National Press Club in 2013. https://www.c-span.org/video/?314750-1/50th-anniversary-march-washington:

“If it had not been for the press, the civil rights movement would have been like a bird without wings, a choir without a song.”

So, let us raise our voices high. And not let democracy die.