Better Luck with Chavez Later, there are men in Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan police have arrested a man on suspicion of trying to incite the assassination of President Hugo Chavez.

Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami says the 28-year-old was detained Thursday in the southwestern city of El Vigia after a weeklong investigation. The man's identity has not been released.

El Aissami says the man has traveled frequently to Colombia and police found messages on his computers alluding to a plot to kill Chavez involving Colombia's outlawed right-wing paramilitary groups.

Tensions are strained between Colombia's conservative government and Chavez's socialist administration.

Venezuelan authorities have claimed numerous purported plots against Chavez in recent years, but none have led to arrests.

Panama's Manuel Noriega extradited from US to France

Panama's Manuel Noriega extradited from US to France
Written by news.bbc.co.uk
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
(news.bbc.co.uk) Noriega's lawyer, Frank Rubino, said he was shocked the US government had not told him of the extradition

The former Panamanian leader, Manuel Noriega, has arrived in France after being extradited from the US, where he has served more than 20 years in jail.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier signed a "surrender warrant" after all judicial challenges ended.

Noriega was convicted in France in his absence in 1999 for laundering money but is likely to face a new trial.

Noriega is now expected to go before prosecutors in Paris to be notified of the arrest warrant against him.

His French lawyer said he would argue that French courts did not have the jurisdiction to try his client.

Detention ruling

Noriega had wanted to be sent back to Panama after finishing his 17-year jail sentence in 2007.

But in February the US Supreme Court rejected his final appeal against extradition to France.

Panama's government said it respected the "sovereign decision" the state department took to extradite Noriega, who is in his mid-70s.

But it insisted it would seek his return to serve outstanding prison sentences there.

Noriega was escorted on to an Air France passenger jet at Miami International Airport on Monday afternoon, shortly after Mrs Clinton signed the extradition order, US officials said.

French prison officials took custody of him once he was on board.

Noriega's plane arrived in the French capital shortly before 0800 local time (0600 GMT) on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the French justice ministry, Guillaume Didier, said that Noriega would appear before prosecutors to be notified of the arrest warrant against him and a judge would decide whether to place him under temporary detention until his case was referred to a criminal court.

Agence France-Presse news agency quoted Mr Didier as saying that Noriega could go on trial within two months.

Noriega's lawyer in France, Yves Leberquier, said he would challenge French jurisdiction on the grounds of his client's immunity from prosecution as a former head of state and because the statute of limitations had expired.

"We're not here to eventually make a moral judgment, we've got legal rules that have to be applied and respected," Associated Press quoted him as saying.

'Prisoner of war'

Mr Didier said France had been notified of the extradition two weeks ago.

But Noriega's lawyer in Miami, Frank Rubino, told the BBC he had not been notified and had only learned of his client's transfer from the media.

"Usually the government has - does things in a more professional manner and respects common courtesy and we're shocked that they didn't," he said.

"I'm surprised that they didn't put a black hood over his head and drag him out in the middle of the night," he added.

Noriega was Panama's military intelligence chief for several years before becoming commander of the powerful National Guard in 1982 and then de facto ruler of the country.

He had been recruited by the CIA in the late 1960s and was supported by the US until 1987.

But in 1988 he was indicted in the US on charges of drug trafficking.

After a disputed parliamentary election the following year, Noriega declared a "state of war".

A tense stand-off followed between US forces stationed in the Panama Canal zone and Panamanian troops.

By mid-December, the situation had worsened so much that President George H W Bush launched an invasion - ostensibly because a US marine had been killed in Panama City, although the operation had long been planned.

Noriega initially took refuge in the Vatican embassy, where US troops bombarded him for days with deafening pop and heavy metal music.

He eventually surrendered on 3 January 1990 and was taken to Miami for trial.

In 1992, he was convicted of drug trafficking, money laundering and racketeering.

He was handed a 40-year prison sentence, later reduced to 30 years, and then 17 years for good behaviour.

Noriega was convicted in absentia in France in 1999 for allegedly using $3m (£1.9m) in proceeds from the drug trade to buy luxury apartments in Paris, and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Shortly before the completion of his US jail sentence, the French government sought Noriega's extradition

Panama Sore Loser Balbina Herrera attacks Martinelli

Panama Sore Loser Balbina Herrera attacks Martinelli
She still can not figure it out, by the people do not like her. ( she is a cunt )
and that is why she is not president of Panama, the Republic of Panama
The National Executive Committee of the Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD) will begin investigating a complaint made Monday by former presidential candidate Balbina Herrera that former President Martín Torrijos donated millions of dollars to her opponent, President Ricardo Martinelli.

PRD Senior Vice President Benicio Robinson qualified the allegations made by Herrera as "serious."

Herrera Tuesday reiterated her allegations.

"We must ask former President Martín Torrijos why he gave $4.5 million to the Martinelli campaign," she said. "I will not remain silent on this issue."

So far, Torrijos has not responded to the allegations.


Herrera makes claim that Torrijos donated money to Martinelli
The National Executive Committee of the Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD) will begin investigating a complaint made Monday by former presidential candidate Balbina Herrera that former President Martín Torrijos donated millions of dollars to her opponent, President Ricardo Martinelli.

PRD Senior Vice President Benicio Robinson qualified the allegations made by Herrera as "serious."

Herrera Tuesday reiterated her allegations.

"We must ask former President Martín Torrijos why he gave $4.5 million to the Martinelli campaign," she said. "I will not remain silent on this issue."

So far, Torrijos has not responded to the allegations.

Hugo Castro Chavez or Cha for short

Hugo Chavez sold off 20 billion US Dollars of oil to China because he needs the money to stay in power. He plans to buy arms to protect himself after he claims the throne of Dictator or just plane King. Following in Fidel Castro's footsteps.
Hugo Chavez plans to buy the election with the 20 billion dollars. With China now backing Chavez may have plans to be the King of all of Central and South America and even North America and Mexico.
Is it possible that someone so ugly could rule the America's, I think not. Sorry Hugo Chasvez you will soon be out of power and hidding in Iran with other cunt dictator.
story by Panama Jack

Panama Costa Rica Bloggers on front line of world freedom fight

Bloggers on front line
of world freedom fight


By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services


Media advocacy groups say the Internet is becoming the new battleground for press freedom as authoritarian governments around the world crack down on growing expressions of dissent on the Web.

From China to Iran, bloggers have provided voices of dissent in places where few, if any, were heard before.

But a group of U.S. congressmen and press freedom activists are drawing attention to the growing censorship of online journalism around the world.

One, Robert Mahoney, deputy director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said bloggers are often more vulnerable than traditional journalists.

"Whereas in the past journalists worked usually for a newspaper or a broadcasting company and had some kind of institutional-corporate protection. They had colleagues and on staff. They had lawyers who could help them when they got into trouble. Now more and more of these bloggers are independent, freelancers even, they have no backing, they are on their own when they're up against these huge oppressive government bureaucracies," Mahoney said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says last year it found at least 68 bloggers, Web-based reporters and online editors under arrest worldwide. That was half the total number of journalists in jail.

Journalism groups worry that even those who are not jailed may be censoring themselves as a consequence of the crackdowns.

Iranian blogger Omid Memarian was imprisoned in 2004 for his work as a journalist. He later left Iran and monitored the bloody repression of street protests that followed the elections in June 2009.

"If it was not for the Internet, God knows how many more people would have been killed on the streets of Tehran and other cities," Memarian said.

The Internet is being used to expose torture, organize public protests, and push the limits of acceptable speech in repressive societies.

Blogging has taken off in China in recent years. Tienchi Martin-Liao of the Independent Chinese PEN center estimates there are now tens of millions of bloggers. But the government is using technology developed in the West to monitor everything from e-mail to voice-over-the-internet.

She said Western companies should follow Google's lead and stop cooperating with the Chinese government.

Freedom of speech activists say there is an increasing arsenal of software that helps online journalists circumvent attempts at censorship. But countries like Iran and China have become increasingly sophisticated at using technology and blogging propaganda.

Mexico issues travel alert

Mexico issues travel alert
for citizens visiting Arizona


By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services


The Mexican government continues to react to the U.S. state of Arizona's new immigration law, issuing a travel alert and canceling an annual meeting with the state's government.

Mexico's ministry of foreign affairs issued a travel warning Tuesday for Mexicans going to or residing in Arizona. In a statement, the ministry urges Mexicans to "act with prudence and with respect to the local legal framework."

The statement says that once the law takes effect, every Mexican citizen may be harassed and questioned without further cause at any time. The new law requires immigrants in Arizona to carry registration documents with them at all times and requires police to question people if there is reason to believe they are illegal immigrants.

Monday, the government of the Mexican state of Sonora announced it has canceled the annual Sonora-Arizona Commission meeting scheduled for June to protest the new law.

Monday, Mexican President Felipe Calderon condemned the new immigration law, saying it opens the door to intolerance, hate and discrimination.

Opponents say the law will result in racial profiling in which police target people because of their race or ethnic background. Supporters say the measure will help combat a wave of crime blamed on illegal immigrants.


Our reader's opinion

Arizona immigration law
may be a wakeup call

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

I took pleasure in seeing a rational response to the situation in Arizona.

Unfortunately it had to come from a Costa Rican newspaper. Political correctness has taken over in a big way here in the U.S. The Arizona law may not be perfect, but it is a start. The people of Arizona have been characterized as xenophobes, racists and worse. Not fair for a people who want to keep their streets safe and life secure.

My son's friend lived there for a while, and most people have to keep their cars behind gates in their driveways lest they get stolen only to be driven over the border into Mexico.

One of the things about Costa Rica which I find admirable: At the airport you are better screened when taking a flight to the U.S. than when you leave it. I've seen people pulled off the line as you are about ready to enter the gangway to board the plane. They were pulled off because they looked shady, were unkempt or were traveling alone. They were profiled. It was done in a country that has little resources to spare, but one that knows tourism is important and takes the extra step to insure safety.

We were screened no less than three times ourselves before boarding, and we are a family of four.

The U.S. has a lot to learn about protecting our borders. Maybe this move by Arizona will wake those in Washington up.

Al Loria
New York

Panamá to open a base in Bocas del Toro

Panamá to open a base
in Bocas del Toro


By the A.M. Costa Rica staff


Panamá is opening a military base at Bocas del Toro to try to stop drug trafficking in the Caribbean.

In addition the country is setting up a base in the Darian province on the Pacific. Bocas del Toro is just south of Costa Rica's Limón province.

The country has set up a handful of such bases in the last few months with the goal of stemming the drug trade.

Some leftist leaders to the south suggest that the bases will be used by U.S. forces to reverse popular revolutions, but Panama denies this.

The action is another sign that the Caribbean is handling more of the drug traffic because the Pacific is so well watched. Anti-drug agents have expressed concern about the possible presence of drug bases in the lightly guarded eastern Nicaragua. Honduras to the north also is known as a stopover point for traffickers who use the Caribbean routes.

Costa Rica free trade a done deal

Vote this week can make
free trade a done deal


By the A.M. Costa Rica staff


President Óscar Arias Sánchez will leave office with the free trade treaty with the United States completed.

The Sala IV constitutional court has given the green light to the 14th and final measure in the free trade package. That opened the door for lawmakers to consider the matter sometime this week. The Asamblea Legislativa already passed the measure on the first reading, but action was frozen when opponents asked for a high court review.

The measure covers intellectual property rights, including songs and other types of creative works. Part of the law establishes criminal penalties for infringement. There also are stiff fines for violation.

Arias spent nearly all his four-year term engineering passage of the free trade treaty. The pact got the nation's approval in an October 2007 referendum after a bitter campaign.

The United States pushed for an intellectual property section in the treaty because of the wholesale counterfeiting of music and movie CDs. The law that got the approval Tuesday implemented the concepts outlined in the free trade treaty and brought national law into conformity.

The United States has frozen some sugar import quotas until the final law gets approval.

Panama Ministry of Health Sex Workers

Panama Ministry of Health Sex Workers
Ministry of Health inspects nightlife establishments
la prensa

Officials from Minsa conducted site visits to inspect local bars.

A total of 27 establishments of health interest were visited recently by the (Minsa).

Officials from Minsa conducted nighttime inspections of these highly-frequently night spots to verify the validity of the respective health certificates of food handlers and sex workers.

Aleida Tejeira, Regional Director of Health, explained that authorities from the entity have been visiting pubs, bars, hotels, and restaurants in the district of Penonomé, to provide recommendations and ensure that these establishments comply with Act 13, which prohibits smoking in public places.

Businesses that do not meet the recommendations will be sanctioned.

Chavez plans to steal 20 Billion from Venezuela say he is now the big monkey on the block

Oil-rich Venezuela will send resource-hungry China 100,000 barrels a day of crude oil for the next 10 years to pay for a $20 billion loan agreed to over the weekend, Venezuela Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Thursday.

Ramirez, who is also the president of state-run Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, didn't indicate any specific price for the oil that may have been agreed to by the two nations. The average price for Venezuela's basket of crude oil and refined products began this week at about $75 a barrel.

The oil minister's comments to reporters come after President Hugo Chavez on Saturday night announced the $20 billion oil-for-credit arrangement with China, a country with which Venezuela has been fostering strong relations.

The loan is being provided by state-owned China Development Bank, and reports Wednesday out of Venezuela indicated it would be paid out this year. Half will be paid in dollars and half in Chinese yuan.

Venezuela says it will use the loan for highways and other infrastructure projects as well as investments in the energy sector.

This isn't the first oil-for-credit deal between Venezuela and China. In recent years, the two set up a $12 billion development fund for Venezuela, of which $8 billion came from China and $4 billion from Venezuela. Most of that has already been spent, mostly on infrastructure that includes a railroad project.

Venezuela says it ships about 460,000 barrels of oil a day to China and hopes in the coming years to push that up toward one million barrels a day. That would be slightly more than what Venezuela ships to each day to the U.S., its current top customer for crude.

Imports figures from the Chinese government vary from those of the Venezuelan government. The Chinese say oil shipments from Venezuela are currently around 210,000 barrels a day, a figure that includes crude oil, fuel oil and other petroleum-derivative products.

Ramirez also said Thursday that state-owned PDVSA was working out a $1.5 billion line of credit with the China Development Bank and Portugal's Banco Espirito Santo. He said another line of credit was also being worked on, but he declined to provide further details.

Ramirez reiterated that PDVSA has no plans to issue bonds this year.

The oil minister also commented on February's Carabobo oil auction for three promising blocks in the eastern Orinoco region. It was Venezuela's biggest bidding round for drilling rights since Chavez took office 11 years ago.

In the auction, a consortium of companies led by U.S.-based Chevron Corp., and including Mitsubishi Corp. and Inpex Corp. of Japan, was awarded the "Carabobo 3" block. A consortium that includes Spain's Repsol YPF SA, India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp., Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd. and two other Indian firms was awarded the "Carabobo 1" block.

The final block, known as "Carabobo 2," went unassigned, which most took to mean that no companies made an offer for it.

But Ramirez said Thursday that Venezuela did receive some bids on it, and he said PDVSA is evaluating them.

Ramirez wouldn't say where the bids came from, but one of them might have come from Royal Dutch Shell PLC, as Shell officials were in attendance at the February auction but were never named as having placed a bid.

Shell officials have been asked about their possible involvement in the Carabobo bidding, but didn't comment.

Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc

Panama Hyatt to invest $50 million in two hotels

Hyatt to invest $50 million in two hotels for Panama
la prensa

The U.S. chain Hyatt has been contemplating operations in Panama for the past 10 years.

Fifty million dollars will be invested in the construction of two hotels, one in the banking area and one in Costa del Este.

Both hotels will be managed by the U.S. chain Hyatt, which has spent the last 10 years exploring the possibility of operating in Panama.

Josep Malca, President of Immobiliare Real Estate Development Group, which owns the project, said that in May of this year construction work will commence in the banking district and is slated for completion in 2012.

In this hotel, which will offer 167 rooms, the company will invest an estimated $22 million, while the 179-room project for Costa del Este is expected to run a tab of approximately $28 million, with construction scheduled to begin in 2011.

In terms of funding, 50 percent of the costs will be financed by three international banks currently operating in Panama and the remaining 50 percent will be paid by Immobiliare Real Estate Development Group and Hyatt Hotel.

Aside from these two hotels, the company is already contemplating the construction of a third hotel in the Canal area, and has not ruled out investing in the countryside.

Panama has new new counter drug base

Story don Winner La Prensa
Panama's National Naval Air Service inaugurated the new counter drug base in Bahía Piña today, located in the Darien province near the border with Colombia. The base will be used to combat drug trafficking activities in the area. The commander of this security force, Luis Eduardo Ruiz, told reporters today the strengthening of the border region along Panama's Pacific coast will help address security problems that arise in the area. "We have drug trafficking and illegal migration, the two greatest threats in this sector, and the new Darien base will help to alleviate that activity," said Ruiz. With the inauguration of the new Naval Air Station in Bahia Piña brings the total to three such bases that have been activated by the Panamanian government, out of a total of eleven that eventually will be opened along both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. (La Prensa)
Editor's Comment: Law enforcement authorities operating out of the two bases that were opened before this one have already seized more than four tons of cocaine. This strategy will have a significant impact on drug traffickers in the region.

Panama to build new international airport in Cocle Panama

Panama's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) submitted a draft of a plan to build a new airport in the central provinces yesterday, outlining the anticipated costs for the project. Yesterday the National Assembly reported the presentation by the CAA that totals about $100 million dollars. Although the National Assembly did not specify the location of the new airport, on Thursday president Ricardo Martinelli said it would be located in the town of Aguadulce in the Coclé province. Rafael Barcenas, the director of the CAA, said that so far this year they have invested approximately $40 million dollars in infrastructure. Barcenas spoke before the Communications and Transportation Commission of the National Assembly and presented a report on his management of the CAA. He said his primary objective is to budget and complete projects that were started (under the previous administration) but never finished. (La Estrella)

Ex-Miss Universe denies link to alleged drug capo

Ex-Miss Universe denies link to alleged drug capo

Facebook Twitter Delicious Digg Fark Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks .Print ..Fri Apr 23, 3:41 pm ET
MEXICO CITY – Former Miss Universe Alicia Machado is denying reports that a suspected major drug trafficker fathered her daughter.

The Venezuelan beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe in 1996 says in a statement issued Friday that the father of her child is a "respected businessman" — and not alleged capo Jose Gerardo Alvarez Vazquez.

Machado was responding to local media reports saying she was had a relationship with Alvarez Vazquez, who was arrested this week in a shootout Wednesday in the outskirts of Mexico City. She denies any link with him.

Authorities say he is responsible for increasing violence in a cartel turf battle in states near the capital. U.S. authorities hope to put him on trial there.

Costa Rica Two prostitution raids target downtown 16-year-old working as a prostitute

Two prostitution raids
target downtown owner


By the A.M. Costa Rica staff


Judicial police raided what they called two hidden prostitution locations in the downtown and on Avenida 10. Both operations were run by the same owner, said unofficial reports. One operation was hidden behind a massage parlor front, a report said.

Usually prostitution raids result in the closing of a business for a day or two, but this owner may have plenty to worry about. Agents reported that they found a 16-year-old working as a prostitute in one of the locations. If true, that would be a major crime.

Panamá plans to insure tourists who come by air

Panamá plans to insure
tourists who come by air


By the A.M. Costa Rica staff


Tourism competitor Panamá plans to offer free insurance to visitors, according to the La Prensa newspaper.

The project has been advanced by the Consejo Nacional de Turismo, which authorized the Autoridad Nacional de Turismo to contract for such services, said the newspaper. A bidding process is planned to selected the insurance provider.

The idea is to cover visiting tourists for 30 days for crime, accidents and medical needs. The policy will be up to $1,000 a day, said the newspaper.

The initial phase of the plan will cover only those who enter the country through Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen.

México had a similar plan for tourists after the swine flu outbreak there.

60 Hookers Busted in Panama Immigration Sweep

60 Hookers Busted in Panama Immigration Sweep
Written by Panama Guide/TVN Noticias

Some of the relatives of the women who were arrested during a raid conducted by immigration authorities at various brothels in Panama City are desperate and very annoyed. The women say their papers are in order but they are being deported to their home countries anyway. By way of protest, one of the women undressed inside of the Transitional Prison of the Immigration System. For her part the Director of Immigration, Maria Cristina Gonzalez, denied such accusations. She said the women are being deported because they do not, in fact, have their papers in order. They lack the card for "performing artists" issued to allow them to work in prostitution legally for nine months in Panama. Relatives of the detained women say they are sleeping on the floor due to overcrowding in the immigration jail. During the raid more than 60 people from different nations were arrested for not having their papers in order. (Source: TVN Noticias)

The Pope Must Come Forward

RIO DE JANEIRO – There he was, five decades later, the priest who had raped Joe Callander in Massachusetts. The photo in the Roman Catholic newsletter showed him with a smile across his wrinkled face, near-naked Amazon Indian children in his arms and at his feet.

The Rev. Mario Pezzotti was working with children and supervising other priests in Brazil.

It's not an isolated example.

In an investigation spanning 21 countries across six continents, The Associated Press found 30 cases of priests accused of abuse who were transferred or moved abroad. Some escaped police investigations. Many had access to children in another country, and some abused again.

A priest who admitted to abuse in Los Angeles went to the Philippines, where U.S. church officials mailed him checks and advised him not to reveal their source. A priest in Canada was convicted of sexual abuse and then moved to France, where he was convicted of abuse again in 2005. Another priest was moved back and forth between Ireland and England, despite being diagnosed as a pederast, a man who commits sodomy with boys.

"The pattern is if a priest gets into trouble and it's close to becoming a scandal or if the law might get involved, they send them to the missions abroad," said Richard Sipe, a former Benedictine monk and critic of what he says is a practice of international transfers of accused and admitted priest child abusers. "Anything to avoid a scandal."

Church officials say that in some cases, the priests themselves moved to another country and the new parish might not have been aware of past allegations. In other cases, church officials said they did not believe the allegations, or that the priest had served his time and reformed.

___

Callander says he was 14 when he was raped three times and abused on other occasions in 1959 at the now-closed Xaverian Missionary Faith High School in Holliston, Mass. The Xaverians settled the case for $175,000 in 1993. At least two other accusations of sexual abuse were leveled against Pezzotti in the Boston area.

In the meantime, from 1970 to 2003, Pezzotti was in Brazil, where he worked with the Kayapo Indians.

In a handwritten note of apology to Callander in January 1993, Pezzotti said he had cured himself in the jungle.

"I asked to leave Holliston and go to Brazil to change my life and begin a new life. Upon arrival in Brazil, confiding in God's mercy, I owned up to the problem," Pezzotti wrote. "With divine help, I overcame it."

There is no evidence that Pezzotti, now 75, abused children in Brazil, which has more Catholics than any other nation. Brazilian law enforcement officials said they were unaware of any complaints about him.

The Rev. Robert Maloney, a former provincial of the Xaverians who worked closely on Callander's settlement, said Pezzotti was allowed to stay in Brazil for another decade and work with children after a psychological evaluation. He added that a Xaverian investigation into Pezzotti and his work in Brazil turned up nothing.

After Pezzotti returned to Italy in 2003, "he was constantly being asked for by Brazil and by the people he worked with," Maloney added.

In 2008, Pezzotti returned to Brazil. A few months later, Callander saw the photos of him on the Internet and complained to the church. The priest was quickly sent back to Italy.

The Xaverian vicar general, Rev. Luigi Menegazzo, said Pezzotti works at Xaverian headquarters in Parma tending to sick and elderly priests. Asked if Pezzotti had any contact with children or public parish work, he said, "Absolutely in no way."

Reached by telephone, Pezzotti said only: "I don't see why I have to talk about it. Everything was resolved and I don't feel like talking."

___

Father Vijay Vhaskr Godugunuru was forced to return to India and then was transferred to Italy after pleading no contest to assaulting a 15-year-old girl while visiting friends in Bonifay, Fla. He now ministers to a parish in a medieval town of about 4,000 in Tuscany, where he hears confessions, celebrates Mass and works with children.

The bishops supervising him said they were aware of the case but believed he was innocent.

"The evidence that has been given does not support the accusation," Monsignor Rodolfo Cetoloni, the bishop of the Montepulciano diocese, told the AP last week.

Cetoloni said he saw no reason for any restrictions. Godugunuru, now 40, "enjoys the esteem of everybody," he said.

Godugunuru had been charged with fondling a parishioner in her family's van on June 23, 2006. The priest, visiting from India's diocese of Cuddapah, had been allowed to assist at the Blessed Trinity Catholic Church in Bonifay.

The girl, now 19, told police in a sworn statement that Godugunuru "fondled her breasts and penetrated her vagina with his fingers." In his own interview with police, Godugunuru said the girl "had taken his hand and placed it between her legs." He denied intentionally touching her.

The priest was arrested the next month for lewd or lascivious battery on a minor. He faced up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine but in exchange for his no contest plea was required to return to India, undergo counseling, not supervise minors for a year and not return to the United States.

The girl's mother brought the case to the attention of Pope Benedict XVI.

"My family and others have been forced out of our church," she wrote in an Aug. 23, 2006, e-mail obtained by the AP. "Just when our faith and our faith in our church were tested most, our Priest chose the side of silence. ... To make matters worse, it was my daughter who was the one being attacked and he just sat back and watched. ...

"This is the biggest problem my family has ever dealt with," she continued. "Please Father, help us. Remember us in your prayers, especially for the speedy healing of my daughter."

The e-mail also said she had contacted the bishop of Cuddapah, the Most Rev. Doraboina Moses Prakasam, and asked if there had been any past accusations of sexual improprieties against Godugunuru. "I have not heard back from him and I don't expect to," she said.

The pope never answered.

Prakasam told the AP he was under the impression that Godugunuru had been absolved of the charges.

"What I was told by the people looking after that case was that he was cleared and ... he was allowed to come back to India," he said.

He said he told the Italian bishop of the case when Godugunuru moved to Tuscany.

The priest of San Lorenzo parish told the AP by phone last week that Godugunuru works as his deputy. He refused further comment, except to say that Godugunuru "does what all deputy parish priests do" and "helps the parish priest."

Godugunuru declined to be interviewed by the AP.

___

Clodoveo Piazza is an Italian Jesuit who ran a homeless shelter for street children and worked in Brazil for 30 years. In 2005, he was awarded $600,000 from Brazil's national development bank to set up four facilities in the northeastern city of Salvador.

Last August, prosecutors said at least eight boys and young men had come forward to say either that they were abused by Piazza or that he allowed visiting foreigners to sexually abuse boys. Brazilian police are seeking his arrest.

Piazza now works in Mozambique, according to the Catholic nonprofit Organizzazione di Aiuto Fraterno, and the church has come to his defense.

"The Italian Jesuits express their solidarity with the brother and father Piazza," reads one note on the nonprofit's Web site. The group adds that "the slander against missionaries is becoming an increasingly popular game."

Brazilian prosecutors say Piazza, a naturalized Brazilian, has refused to respond to the charges of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children.

Interviewed in Maputo, Mozambique, this week, Piazza said the charges were false and part of a campaign to blackmail him by "political circles" in Brazil that he did not identify. He said he had been acquitted of the charges twice in Brazil, and that there is no evidence against him.

A spokeswoman with Bahia state's Public Ministry said there were no records of Piazza ever being tried or acquitted and that the case against him is still open. She spoke on condition of anonymity, in keeping with department policy.

"This is propaganda in order to earn money," Piazza told the AP, saying people in Brazil had asked him for money, which he could not pay.

He said he has been living in a Jesuit residence in Maputo for about seven months. He said he was working with Italy's Turino University on "economic projects" and was not working with children.

___

Joseph Skelton was a 26-year-old student at St. John Provincial Seminary in Detroit, Mich., in 1988 when he was convicted of sexual misconduct with a 15-year-old boy. He was given three years' probation and dismissed from his seminary.

Two decades later, he lives in the Philippines, where he was ordained a priest and now serves as parochial vicar of the St. Vincent Ferrer parish in the remote town of Calape, according to the diocese directory. He is also a popular gospel singer in the heavily Catholic country.

Reached on his cell phone, Skelton declined comment.

He finished his seminary studies in Manila, the capital, and was ordained in 2001 in the diocese of Tagbilaran in Bohol province.

The bishop who ordained Skelton said he wouldn't have made him a priest if he had known about the criminal conviction.

"I ordained him because, while there was some talk about his effeminate ways, there was no case against him," Bishop Leopoldo S. Tumulak said.

Tumulak, who has since stepped down, said it would be up to his successor to reopen the case.

"The priest is trying to live well," Tumulak said. "If he has really changed, the heart of the church is compassionate — although in America, Europe, they have different ways of looking at it. Not the church, but the government, the people. In the Philippines, it's a little bit different."

The archdiocese of Detroit, after learning Skelton had been ordained, sent a letter about his conviction to the Tagbilaran diocese in early 2003. Tumulak, the former bishop, said he doesn't remember if he received the letter, and in any case it would have been too late.

Informed of the case, current Bishop Leonardo Medroso said he would investigate. But he added:

"The case has been judged already. He was convicted and that means to say he has served already the conviction. So what obstacle can there be if he has already served his punishment or penalty?"

___

The Rev. Enrique Diaz Jimenez of Colombia was punished three times in three different countries.

He pleaded guilty to sexually abusing three boys while a priest at St. Leo's Church and Our Lady of Sorrows Church in New York in the mid-1980s, and was sentenced in April 1991 to five years' probation and four months of an "intermittent sentence."

He was deported and resumed work as a priest in Venezuela, where he was suspended from the priesthood in 1996 for 20 years after 18 boys accused him of molesting them.

Monsignor Francisco de Guruceaga, the bishop who hired Diaz in Venezuela, said it was not clear to him when the priest arrived that he had been charged with abusing children. De Guruceaga said Diaz told him he had problems with relationships with women, not molesting children.

Diaz returned to Colombia in 1996 and again found work as a priest. Colombian prosecutors say Diaz was charged in 2001 with molesting one more boy and pleaded guilty later that year.

___

Transferring abusive priests was called "the geographical cure," according to Terry Carter, a New Zealand victim. Carter won $32,000 in compensation from the Society of Mary, which oversees the Catholic boarding school outside Wellington where he was abused by the Rev. Allan Woodcock.

Woodcock molested at least 11 boys at four church facilities in New Zealand before being sent by the church to Ireland. He was extradited to New Zealand in 2004, pleaded guilty to 21 sexual abuse charges involving 11 victims and was sentenced to seven years in jail. He was paroled in September 2009.

"They whipped him out of the country to Ireland," Carter said. "They took him out of New Zealand after years of offending in different locations."

Society of Mary spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer told the AP that some families of Woodcock's victims asked that he be sent offshore.

"He was sent to Ireland for intensive psychotherapy. He had no permission to exercise his ministry or to be involved with youth," she said.

Woodcock was suspended from his ministry in the New Zealand branch of the Society of Mary in 1987, according to Freer. He was removed from the priesthood in 2001, she said.

Freer noted that even 20 years ago, it was accepted belief that "pedophilia could be cured," often with intensive psychotherapy. "Pedophilia is now seen as recidivist," she said.

Woodcock is believed to be living in New Zealand's North Island coastal city of Wanganui. A woman who gave her name as Catherine Woodcock and described herself as "a relative" said she didn't think he would want to make any comment to the media. Asked why, she replied: "It is not appropriate at this stage."

___

Back in Windsor, Vermont, Callander lives a quiet life with Sandi, his wife of 35 years. It was only last week that he told his siblings about the abuse.

Callander says he is coming forward now because the Xaverians failed to keep their promise that Pezzotti would not be around children. He wants the church to change by defrocking or isolating priests who admit abuse so they cannot work in the same positions again — anywhere in the world.

"All I want is for the church to do what is right for once," Callander said. "To end the facade that a man like that should have the right to call himself a Catholic priest."

___

Associated Press writer Bradley Brooks reported this story from Rio de Janeiro and Alessandra Rizzo from Rome. Contributing to this story were AP writers Daniel Woolls in Spain, Fran d'Emilio and Nicole Winfield in Italy, Angela Charlton in France, Robert Barr in London, Eliane Engeler in Switzerland, Veronika Oleksyn in Austria, Matt Sedensky in Miami, Gillian Flaccus and Raquel Dillon in Los Angeles, David Runk in Detroit, Sean Farrell in Montreal, Rob Gillies in Toronto, Bill Kaczor in Tallahassee, Fla., Pat Condon in Minneapolis, Emanuel Camillo in Mozambique, Alan Clendenning in Brazil, Ian James in Venezuela, Olga Rodriguez in Mexico, Vivian Sequera, Libardo Cardona in Colombia, Michael Warren in Argentina, Eva Vergara, Federico Quilodran and Brad Haynes in Chile, Ravi Nessman in India, Hrvoje Hranjski, Teresa Cerojano and Oliver Teves in the Phillippines, and Ray Lilley in New Zealand.

Panama Fish Market

Posted by editor Boquete

It was about noon when I arrived the the Seafood Market. The plaque on the wall said it was built with money from Japan in 2005. It looks and feels more than three years old. I am not sure why there never seems to be a budget to maintain capital projects. Large investments fall into disrepair all too quickly.



The lower floor of this market is laden with fish and other seafood.



The upper floor is a restaurant that provides the opportunity to carry some fresh seafood home, internally.



I arrived at 12:30 and seating was filled. After I looked at a menu I understood why.

Click on this for a menu big enough to read.

Fresh seafood, prepared fast and for very low prices.



My lunch was one of my favorites

Pescado Frito, a whole fried fish for $3.75. It was light, flaky and although I have no idea what type of fish it was I enjoyed it completely.

Filed Under: Contrasts, Natural Foods, Restaurants - Panama City
Tags: Lodging - Panama City, mercado de marisco, seafood panama city

Few sources link rage with use of marijuana

Few sources link rage
with use of marijuana

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Tuesday's front page story on the student run-in at Universidad de Costa Rica made the claim that ". . . Some students were fueling their rage with marijuana."

As a health professional with 35 years experience in substance use treatment and research, I am surprised by this claim. I checked the Library of Medicine's archives just to refresh my memory on this subject, and confirmed that there is at best a tenuous link between aggression and marijuana in the scientific literature, and that the few articles to discuss such a link were written, for the most part, decades ago, when little was known about the effects of marijuana.

Now, as to the incident itself, rage is far from the only feeling expressed at large gatherings, even when the original situation might result from anger. I suggest that many participants were there to "have a party." The fact that so few participants were arrested or injured enough to require medical treatment supports this.

I believe that your reporters were editorializing, and allowed a bias against marijuana to distort their view of the facts.


John French

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged thousands of gun-toting militia troops

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged thousands of gun-toting militia troops Tuesday to be ready to fight for his socialist government, telling them that opponents may be plotting to oust or kill him.

Chavez rallied the civilian militia at an outdoor speech while marking the anniversary of a failed 2002 coup against him. Organizers estimated about 35,000 militia members in the crowd, which filled a downtown avenue in Caracas.

The president said his opponents would be defeated if they tried another coup, and he vowed to emerge again with a dominant majority in the National Assembly after September elections.

Without giving details, Chavez told the crowd that he believes some people in Venezuela are conspiring to assassinate him.

"If they were to do it ... you know what you would have to do. Simply take all power in Venezuela, absolutely all, sweep away the bourgeoisie from all political and economic spaces, deepen the revolution," he said.

He held aloft a sword that once belonged to the 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar — the inspiration of Chavez's socialist Bolivarian Revolution movement — as he administered an oath to members of the Bolivarian Militia.

Chavez declared April 13 to be the "Day of the Bolivarian Militia," a national day of celebration.

He called the militia, which he created, a key force to help defend the country against any threat, whether foreign or domestic.

"You should be ready to take up the arms you have there at any time and go out to give your lives, if you have to, for the Bolivarian Revolution!" he thundered.

Confetti floated through the air after Chavez arrived in a jeep waving to the crowd.

The former paratrooper officer, who is up for re-election in 2012, has recently seen his popularity slip as his government copes with a shrinking economy, racing inflation and electricity shortages.

Chavez thrives on confrontation and has repeatedly accused his opponents of trying to overthrow or kill him.

President Ricardo Martinelli

President Ricardo Martinelli has announced the introduction of a program to normalize the immigration status of some 100,000 Colombians who live in Panama illegally. Martinelli stated in the Colombian city of Medellin that his government will soon launch "a rehabilitation and legalization program for all undocumented Colombians that there are in Panama." "There are many, and most of them are not part of the formal formal economy can not do the basic necessities because they are living undercover, living hidden," he said after meeting with the Mayor of Medellín, Alonso Salazar, and receiving the keys to the city. Martinelli launched his three day official visit to Colombian in Medellín yesterday. He will continue to Bogota today and then go to Cartagena, a city that will host the Latin American version of World Economic Forum (WEF) tomorrow. Illegal Colombians in Panama "have to be normalized, because that is something human and we have to remember that at one time Panama was part of Gran Colombia, this is something we have to solve in a fast and effective manner," Martinelli said. He said there could be "hundreds of thousands" of Illegal immigrants from Colombia in Panama. He remembered that in the past there was a smaller effort based on a "small census" that allowed for 25,000 Colombians to legalize their status in Panama.
The President, who took advantage of the trip to see the subway system in Medellin, said that Panama will soon open a public bidding process to build a subway system. "We have to learn from the management of this system as a model for the Metro of Panama, so that it becomes and entity that does not have a deficit, and one which produces not only a good service, but one that does not become a burden to the state," said Martinelli.

On the issue of the legalization of more than 100 thousand Colombians, Francisco Sanchez Cardenas, the President of the CEN of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), said that from the human point of view he agrees with the president's initiative, but in regard to the country's security, we must analyze who will be legalized "because even though we are very close to our Colombian brothers we have to look towards the security of the country." The other problem is that now the Colombians will compete for jobs with Panamanians, and this would mean more unemployment, said Sánchez. (El Siglo)

Panama Increased hiring in the capital

Increased hiring in the capital
la prensa

The majority of contracts have been issued in the fields of construction, commerce, and call centers.

The sustained growth of Panama's economy is a key attraction for the installation of new businesses, and thus the generation of employment.

The Contract Analysis Department of the Ministry of Labor and Workforce Development (MITRADEL), up until the third week of March 2010, recorded a total of 35,369 labor contracts.

Of this total, an estimated 11,068 were fixed-term contracts, some 8,839 were for an indefinite period, and another 15,462 were classified in the category of specific projects.

The head of Contract Analysis at MITRADEL, Gabriel Quintero, said the total number of new contracts registered as of March of this year will surpass the figures reported in March 2009, when there were approximately 53,417 labor contracts on record.

These figures only cover the metropolitan area and exclude jobs that are being generated by the expansion of the Panama Canal.

The majority of contracts have been issued in the fields of construction, commerce, and call centers.

Drugs found at airport Panama

Drugs found at airport
Two plastic bags of cocaine were found inside a refrigerator that was seized Wednesday by Customs officers at Tocumen International Airport.

The merchandise was to be sent to New Jersey in the United States.

Two people, a Panamanian and a Jamaican, were taken into custody. The two men allegedly transported the refrigerator to the airport in a taxi.

Murder in Panama of a US Citizen

By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide dot com – Paul Roger Nunes, a US citizen who recently moved to Panama, was killed this morning in the house he was renting in the Alta Mar #2 development of the Los Algarrobos neighborhood in the town of Dolega of the Chiriquí province, Republic of Panama. Paul Nunes was approximately 65 years old, according to neighbors, and he had been living in the area for only two months. There was a young Panamanian couple living in the same house with Paul Nunes. According to reports, the robbers forced the young Panamanian woman into a back room and locked her in with her baby. The woman’s husband was not home at the time of the incident. The attack apparently occurred in the early morning hours, today. Area residents suspect the robbers might have had keys or some other way to gain access to the house, because apparently there were no signs of forced entry.

Americans in Panama Participant: Paul Roger Nunes, the CEO of Stonecastle Homes Inc, was a frequent participant on the Americans in Panama Yahoo Email Group. Ironically, in a recent discussion about crime and violence in Panama, Paul wrote:

•“thats all fine and dandy, but some people prefer to live free, not locked behind bars in a private prison (for protection?)…if thats what was required to feels safe, I would definately move to a different location, even a different country. Some people here have compared the crime threat to being less than the average american city. Possibly true. I will not live in any city for many reasons, crime being one of them. Life is much different in rural farm country or mountains. here i do not expect thieves and muggers. Neighbors help each other and doors are unlocked. Obviously, latin countries seem to have a problem that is much reduced in other cultures. This is a morale issue of society that does not respect or value other people. It is the sad dark side of a culture that is otherwise very warm giving to others, even if a gringo is viewed as a private atm machine by many locals. This problem will not go away quickly and will hinder future growth. Panama has much to offer to outsiders, but this ugly problem needs to be addressed by both the government and society as a whole. Armed police is not the answer. Educating people and instilling basic values of honesty in the schools and at home will be a start. Paul Nunes [pstonecastle@sbcglobal.net]“
Police Are Investigating: Police are apparently anxious to talk to the husband of the woman who lived with Paul, and according to neighbors they have not yet been able to locate or talk to him. More details as they become available.

Copyright 2009 by Don Winner for Panama-Guide.com. Go ahead and use whatever you like as long as you credit the source. Salud.