If the mountain wont come to

SHOULD  The mountain go to Miami  or  the mountain come to Panama? With the current internal crisis in the Cambio Democratico (CD) party, defining where the “mountain” rests is an increasing challenge.

Until recently, Ricardo Martinelli  the founder and bankroller  of the Cambio Democratico (CD) Party was the recognized mountain.  He ran the party, and for four years the country, as his own fiefdom. The leader with deep pockets was able to claim the allegiance of many, of different political hues, who were happy to obey the dictates  of a man who held the keys to the country’s treasure chest and was able to attract  a gang of robber barons, unmatched in Panama’s history.

But with end of his reign, and the uncovering of structured corruption that robbed the country of over $300 million (and counting)   he fled the country and,   failing to gain  refuge in the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) that he once  labeled “a den of thieves,” he moved to Miami  where he could continue his  Twitter addiction, and pull the strings of the party  that he created to pave the way to his presidency.

But, as case, after case of visible corruption surfaced with many erstwhile thieves giving  evidence for the prosecution, his grip on the party weakened, and, in spite of his mantra “political persecution” the voices of  supporters were muted or disappeared   including his paid band of  vigilantes  whose  comments, with little regard for facts, or verisimilitude,  once jammed  media networks. Goebbels would have admired them.

His latest move. appointing by decree,  a president of the party, to rule in his absence  and demanding  from CD deputies  signed allegiance to the party line, by Dec 31 2015,  or face expulsion from the Assembly exposed  his diminishing power. The deputies, with three exceptions rejected both his choice of president, and the demand to sign the pledge, while a battalion of well-heeled lawyers attempts to keep him for facing justice on multiple criminal charges.

There was talk of a CD  delegation going to Miami where Martinelli recently  gave the finger to the country while sipping a Starbucks coffee with his mouthpiece   Eduardo Camacho. Then rumors circulated that he would  come to Panama, to meet the disaffected deputies. It is no longer clear where the “mountain” sits.