OFF THE CUFF: Guess who’s not coming to dinner

UNWELCOME MAT– It’s not likely that Wall Street Journal (WSJ) columnist Mary O’Grady, will be getting a dinner invitation from former president Ricardo Martinelli during a Panama visit sponsored by the Freedom Foundation.

O’Grady has devoted several columns to Panama. The latest was on April 14 when she warned about the intentions of Martinelli, who was hiding his aspirations for re-election behind the candidacy of his wife Marta, who was running for vice president on the CD ticket.

She said this was Martinelli’s way to get around the constitutional ban on immediate re-election.

 On  Tuesday, August 12she repeated her early comments  in an interview with La Prensa.”Martinelli wanted to consolidate power,” she said.

She also criticized President Juan Carlos Varela’s, regulation of the price of 22 basic food products saying it will alter the free market, and the free market is the watchword of Rupert Murdoch’s WSJ.

BUSINESS LIKE– When Ricardo Martinelli first took over the presidency in 2009 and was seeking an audience with US President Barack Obama, he found time to appear on Fox TV. When asked to explain Panama’s booming economy he said it was because his was a government of businessmen. Now his administration is being castigated by the business community for leaving the country in a financial mess as the businessmen followed their leader down the rocky path of spend and borrow.

COINCIDENCE– A group of workers from the company Campos de Pesé protested Tuesday in front of the National Assembly to reject a bill that seeks to make the use of ethanol optional.

The Committee on Trade and Economic Affairs is debating the proposal  submitted by PRD Representative Zulay Rodríguez.

The law requiring the use of ethanol in gasoline was passed in 2011. Campos de Pesé is the only supplier of ethanol in the country. The percentage of ethanol in gasoline is due to rise in stages and will reach its maximum when an ethanol production plant, owned by the family of the leader who introduced compulsory use, comes on line.