A Friend of Martin Torrijos Buying Land in Bocas del Toro
This article was written by Horacio Trottman, Carmen Boyd and Jahiro Polo and was originally published in the Panamanian newspaper “El Siglo“ on 25 May 2007. Back in May there was a burst of interest in these issues which has since died down somewhat. People who see themselves as victims of land-grab schemes constantly try to get journalists interested in their personal situations as a way to pressure government officials into action - they want to draw as much attention as possible to their accusations and complaints. Most notably, TVN Channel 2 sent a crew to Bocas del Toro and they shot an entire week-long special series. On the day that the series was supposed to air, TVN’s national signal went down. They ended up only showing the first of five segments, and the other four were never broadcast. The people in Bocas del Toro who have been impacted by these kinds of shenanigans are constantly looking for more press, and on the other side those who are paying off politicans and buying influence are no longer answering my telephone calls or emails. Oh well, that was kind of expected… (more)