Paving the Path of the Quetzals

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Paving the Path of the Quetzals (Cont.)


	Looking for quetzals on the Sendero (Ronni Flannery)

Moscoso's zeal spurred allegations by the mayor of Panama City that she was primarily interested in boosting property values on land she owned along the route. She denied the charges and threatened to sue him for criminal defamation, but a subsequent investigation by the daily newspaper El Panama America revealed that Moscoso served as president of a holding company that owned 2,291 acres near the site of the proposed road. A nephew of Moscoso's late husband, the former president, hastily produced an unrecorded deed indicating that her company had sold three-quarters of the land in 1985—to another company comprised of her family members, some of whom are high-ranking officials in her administration.

Speaking to La Prensa, the nephew (also an administration official) indicated that the land had been "forgotten" by the family. Published reports suggest that Moscoso may retain ownership of a quarter interest in the property, but her administration denies that she has ever owned land in the area, except for a coffee plantation in Boquete.

The administration also claims that the anti-road activists are the ones with ulterior motives. When asked whether Moscoso thinks the road is unpopular, spokesperson Rognoni replied, "No. The opposition has been initiated by those who favored the alternate route, whose land and properties would have benefited from the road in their proposed route, and they in turn have motivated political adversaries from outside the area to protest the road."

At the root of the presidential soap opera is the fact that Panamanian politics are known for corruption—so much so that the term juega vivo (meaning "play smart," but nuanced with a sense of unethical, self-interested behavior) was coined to describe the phenomenon. Since taking power in 1999, Moscoso's administration has suffered from scandals and resignations. And according to the San Antonio Express-News, the president herself has been accused of stealing from the public treasury: Over the past few years a fleet of presidential cars has gone unaccounted for, a taxpayer-funded beach house ended up in her brother's name, and $40,000 mysteriously turned up in the freezer of one of her assistants.

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