Bosco has one-on-one with Martinelli on garbage crisis

From the Sidelines
Oh to have been a fly on the wall when Panama’s beleaguered Mayor Bosco Vallarino journeyed to the Palace on Monday to meet with President Ricardo Martinelli to discuss the garbage issue.
Bosco, who does the TV and radio show rounds  on an almost daily basis, like a struggling movie star as he tries to restore his largely self imposed, battered image, even canceled a press conference to attend the meeting with a man who like a famed predecessor has frequently indicated, possibly with stronger words, that he is not amused by the antics of his worship.
As tons of uncollected garbage continue to pile up in Panama City, top officials from the city and the federal government met yesterday to discuss the issue.
But the real decisions will have been made in the one on one confrontation.
Afterwards, both participants were tight-lipped about what was discussed. Vallarino had no comment while all Martinelli would say about the meeting was that the two "spoke about the way things should be done."
In March, the federal government began helping the city with garbage collection because the Ministry of Health issued a warning that the accumulating garbage could cause an epidemic.
That aid was cut off, however, when Vallarino went to the National Assembly to protest the decision to remove garbage collection from the city and to create a federal agency to handle it.
In withdrawing its support, the federal government also refused to allow city municipal waste agency Dimaud to use parts it had purchased. Those parts are needed to fix broken garbage trucks. About half of the agency’s fleet is in need of repairs.
"The parts belong to the Ministry of the Presidency," said presidential spokeswoman Judy Meana. "Once the mayor asked to resume control of garbage collection we withdrew our support of personnel and equipment."
That was the time when Jimmy Papadimitriu the Minister of the Presidency and top adviser to Martinelli, told Bosco that it was time to move from talk the talk, to walk the walk. Maybe his worship didn’t get the message, and it was repeated by a man who does not like to mince words.

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