OFF THE CUFF: Spies, insiders, subliminal

UNDERCOVER – Earlier this week media reported an undercover Israeli operative recording a conversation with a Panama lawyer boasting of his skills bribing judges. On Tuesday the focus switched to a  City hall advertisement thanking the country for WYD. Several of the photos show Mayor and Panamenista presidential candidate Jose Blandon participating in WYD  activities. La Prensa notes that The youth festival was not a municipal event and reports that at least one of the three Electoral magistrates has asked for the withdrawal of l the “disguised advertising” preceding the electoral campaign. Meanwhile are lawmakers who fought to get selfies with Pope Francis, ready to download them to their campaign posters. Subliminal advertising?

REUSABLE – The  Ribasmith Supermarket chain is a long-time promoter of the use of reusable bags, and with the banning of plastic bags scheduled for June, the Ministry of the Environment has decided to follow suit and plans  a campaign to deliver reusable bags to the public, but the welcomed move is being questioned as the supplier company has already been a beneficiary of “direct  contracts” which is often a government synonym for  “Insider deals.”

INSIDERS – And talking of insiders, the former president, Ricardo Martinelli, approaching his eighth month in El Renacer prison following 12 months in a Miami detention center  kept a low profile  during WYD, although a staff member of a paper he owns went to Rome to deliver a note about “political prisoners” and a cross carved by Riccardo Francolini, while he was detained in El Renacer. A  longtime member of the Martinelli insider cabal, Francolini is facing trial in multiple corruption cases and if convicted could become a senior member of the long term insiders club.

THE WALL – The fight between the Whitehouse and Democrats over The Wall has given the Martinelli sons some extra breathing space. They are out on $1 million apiece bail awaiting an extradition hearing after being arrested on an Interpol red alert triggered by Panama prosecutors of a bunch of corruption cases totaling scores of millions of dollars, The US shutdown led to the adjournment of their Jan. 22 hearing. If prosecutors get their way, the brothers could be housed near the capo.