OFF THE CUFF: Boats named without consent

FOUR of the  six used patrol boats donated by Italy to Panama as part of a deal to secure a major contract for Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica  were named on the orders of then president Ricardo Martinelli after the four presidents who preceded him.

Two of them, Ernesto Perez Balladares, and  Martin Torrijos, declined the ”honor” but Martinelli went ahead with the christening  without their consent.

Neither turned up for the official ceremony in Rodman on May 30 2012.

Mireya Moscoso sent a representative and former first lady  Ana Mae Diaz de Endara, widow of former President Guillermo Endara Galimany was there to murmur platitudes.

Undeterred Martinelli went ahead with the ceremony, boasting that the  six promised launches had a value of $80 million.

The no-show ex-presidents still  have their names on the sterns of two vessels that are, like Martinelli, currently out of action..