Archbishop declares corruption Panama's number one problem
At a June 12 mass at Rommel Fernandez Stadium, Archbishop Ulloa told thousands of Catholics gathered there, and through the mass media to the entire nation (including its religious minorities), that Panama's worst problem is corruption.
The worst thing about corruption, he opined, is that people get used to it and become accomplices, and in the end they are willing to accept anything and mediocrity reigns supreme. He said that there will be a problem with corruption so long as there are willing accomplices.
This opinion comes from his faith and the doctrines of his church, but what he said was and is not for Catholics only. It was as sound a declaration of a fundamental public policy principle as you are ever likely to hear.
So what did our illustrious president, who is ensnared in multiple scandals, have to say about this?
He insisted that the archbishop name names and submit proofs. After taking the most sordid pro-corruption stands and blocking so many investigations, Mr. Martinelli is telling the church, and the Panamanian people, to do his job for him.
But the clergy are not stool pigeons, and if they were it would get in the way of their work of propagating the morals and beliefs of their religions. To misunderstand this is to ignore the reasons for the legal inviolability of the confessions of sinners to clerics, and to be utterly clueless about the proper relationship between church and state.
It's the churches' job to exhort people to turn away from crime and immorality, and the state's job to investigate, prosecute and punish those who engage in criminal behavior.
Two days later, La Estrella reported that 22 current or former public officials from the Martinelli administration had lost their visas to travel to or through the United States due to Washington's belief that they have been involved in public corruption.
Security Minister José Raúl Mulino assured us that this is a "personal matter." The Panamanian government does not plan to investigate.
