OFF THE CUFF: Candidates spurn  culture and sick kids

Gomez and Lombana make time to accept invitations

 
1,539Views 0Comments Posted 04/04/2019

CULTURE – No one can label Panama’s principal political leaders as “culture hunting vultures”  a phrased used by poet Dylan Thomas to describe some members of his audience hanging on his every word.

For decades successive rulers have put culture among the also-rans, leaving bodies like INAC  and symbols of the country ’s heritage, like The Teatro National, and museum underfunded,  and libraries almost nonexistent in a society where the cost of books is prohibitive for  75% of the population.

 This week The Panamanian Book Chamber and the Panamanian Academy of Language organized a forum “Culture For All “  and invited the seven presidential candidates Only two showed up  - Ana Matilde Gómez and Ricardo Lombana, both Independents. They were also the only presidential candidates to attend a tour of the beleaguered Hospital Del Nino (Children’s Hospital).

Maribel Gordón, the candidate for vice-presidency for the Broad Front for Democracy (FAD), also participated.,

Cultural heritage, creative economy, institutionality, and copyright were the issues raised by the organizers, who requested that the theme of culture be included in the presidential proposals. parties.

Don’t expect any rewritten manifestos from the missing aspirants who are busy crafting more promises.

OLD MAN PLEA-   Sydney Sitton, one of the high priced lawyers in the defense team of Ricardo Martinelli, has complained about the number of police assigned to guard the old man (67)  during his trips from his current home in El Renacer prison to attend court hearings and hospital visits. The old man wants to run for mayor of Panama City, n spite of his health problems (blood pressure and panic attacks)

Sitton says in the US only two marshall's are assigned to escort prisoners, Martinelli, on the other hand, has been deemed a flight risk by the Supreme Court, and the jungle-lined   road from El Renacer  would  be a perfect  location for a rescue attempt of a man with ample financial resources facing a potential 21-year jail term.

 



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