Political Careers, Corruption, and Impunity: Panama's Assembly, 1984-2009

Notes

Notes Introduction 1. For a list of assembly parties having at least one member in the National Assembly in 1984–2009 (and their acronyms), see appendix D. 2. Approving or rejecting contracts with the government is a function of the National Assembly, according to article 159, section 15 of the Panamanian constitution (República de Panamá 2004). 3. Balbina Herrera (PRD), mayor of the San Miguelito municipality in 1984–89, legislator in 1989–2004, and minister for housing in 2004–8, was her party’s presidential candidate in the May 2009 elections. She lost to Ricardo Martinelli, who was supported by a coalition of parties led by his own Cambio Democrático (CD), PPAN, MOLIRENA, UP. 4. Chapter 10 addresses the CEMIS case in more detail. 5. Freedom House’s “personal autonomy and individual rights” category includes absence of state control over travel or choice of residence, employment , or institution of higher education; the right to private property; gender equality; the right to choose marriage partners and determine size of family; equality of opportunity; and the absence of economic exploitation (Freedom House 2009d). 6. Political institutionalization, both formal and informal, is the subject of part 1 (especially chapters 3 and 4). 7. According to O’Donnell (1996), three basic features characterize formal institutionalization: an explicit formalization of democratic institutions 374 in constitutions and auxiliary legislation, a close fit between formal rules and actual behavior, and a universalistic orientation to some consensus-based notion of the public good. 8. I thank Gloria Rudolf for suggesting possible connections between the identified behaviors and such analytical categories as gender and class. 9. For Freedom House classifications, methodology, and country narratives , see Freedom House 2009c. 10. Since 1972, when Freedom House’s ratings began, Panama’s rankings are as follows: “not free” in 1972–77; “partly free” in 1978–87; “not free” in 1988–89; “partly free” in 1990–93; and “free” in 1994–present. The country was under a military regime continuously from 1968 to 1989. Among the twenty Latin American republics, Freedom House (2009a) classified the following ten as “free” in 2008. These states have been uninterrupted liberal democracies since the dates indicated in parenthesis: Costa Rica (pre-1972), Uruguay (1985), Chile (1990), Panama (1994), El Salvador (1997), Dominican Republic (1998), Mexico (2000), Peru (2001), Brazil (2002), and Argentina (2003). 11. For the CPI methodology and country scores, see Transparency International (2009). 12. In May 1989 the military-controlled Electoral Tribunal annulled the elections held that month, which had resulted in a massive victory for the opposition . The 1984–89 constitutional term expired on August 31, 1989. That day the “General Council of State,” another organ subordinated to the military , appointed a “provisional government” to assume executive functions until new elections were held (at an undefined time). The Legislative Assembly ceased to operate and the General Council of State appointed a forty-one-member “Legislation Commission” to exercise legislative functions (Consejo General de Estado 1989a, 1989b). The December 1989 U.S. invasion dismantled this unconstitutional structure and permitted the rise to power of Guillermo Endara (PPAN), the rightful winner of the May 1989 presidential election. Subsequently, a commission was appointed to review the 1989 election results for the Legislative Assembly and municipal councils. Based on the commission’s findings, the Electoral Tribunal proclaimed the election of fifty-eight legislators, who assumed office on March 1, 1990.Thus, the Legislative Assembly did not operate in the six-month period between September 1, 1989, and March 1, 1990. In 1991 the Electoral Tribunal held elections for nine unfilled assembly seats, after which the process to determine the composition of the sixty-seven-member chamber finally concluded (Ricord 1991). 13. A military-orchestrated electoral fraud ensured the election of Nicolás Ardito Barletta (PRD) to the presidency and a Legislative Assembly majority Notes to Pages 6–12 | 375 for the PRD in 1984, the first time popular elections for the executive and an assembly were held in Panama since 1968. The military deposed Ardito in 1985. He was succeeded by (fraudulent) First Vice-President Eric Delvalle (PR), who was impeached by the Legislative Assembly and unseated in February 1988 after he issued a decree dismissing Manuel Noriega as commander of the Panamanian Defense Forces. On orders from Noriega, the Legislative Assembly bypassed constitutional succession by (fraudulent) Second Vice-President Roderick Esquivel (PL) and installed Manuel Solís Palma (PRD), a minister in...