THAT LITTLE LESSON FROM PANAMA’S ELECTION FOR LAWFARE-OBSESSED DEMOCRATS
Do any of the Democrats engaged in lawfare against President Trump read the news about leftists south of the border who do the same things they are doing?
Maybe Panama’s election a week ago would be useful for them to know.
According to Foreign Policy, which has a good, if somewhat left-slanted overview of what went on there:
“The winner, José Raúl Mulino, was a stand-in candidate for former President Ricardo Martinelli, who was disqualified due to a money laundering conviction. (Outgoing center-left President Laurentino Cortizo was barred from running due to a ban on immediate reelection.)
Martinelli governed Panama from 2009 to 2014, during an economic boom. Despite his legal woes, many Panamanians remain loyal to Martinelli. Mulino, who served as Martinelli’s security minister and referenced the economic abundance of Martinelli’s tenure on the campaign trail, earned around 34 percent of votes on Sunday—enough for victory in Panama’s one-round presidential race.”
Sure, every country is different.
But the parallels here are quite striking. A former president who brought prosperity to his country through conservative and free market values from 2009 to 2014, Ricardo Martinelli, was running for a non-consecutive term as president. (Panama law doesn’t permit consecutive terms).
The left, which took power after him, made a hash of the economy, and turned Panama into an illegal alien superhighway, leaving voters with only the memory of how good things were during Martinelli’s administration.
The Associated Press seemed to think the voters remembered:
“While he lacks Martinelli’s charisma, the economic boom seen under his ally pushed many voters to support Mulino at a time that Panama’s economy has lagged.”
Foreign Policy put out its excusemaking for the left’s miserable record in power this way:
“Since the COVID-19 pandemic, however, Panama has entered more uncertain political and economic terrain. A drought has reduced activity in the Panama Canal. Increasing numbers of migrants traveling through the Darién Gap, Panama’s jungle border with Colombia, have strained humanitarian services. Last year, authorities shuttered the country’s most profitable copper mine, which accounted for an estimated 3.5 percent of Panama’s GDP in 2021.”
Ah, COVID. It’s always COVID-19, isn’t it? I think the word the writer is looking for is ‘lockdowns,‘ as this study by economist Steve Hanke and several others found.
The mining shutdown probably had more to do with it — and the lingering memory of how good things were earlier. The Associated Press also noted that as a former security minister in the Martinelli administration, Mulino actually did shut down the Darien Gap passage to narcoguerrillas who were infesting the jungles at the time and vowed to do it again.
Foreign Policy added:
“In the past three decades, Panama has generally outpaced its Latin American peers in economic growth. Its economy grew by an average of 5.9 percent annually between 1990 and 2019, driven in part by revenues from the Panama Canal. The country, a logistics hub, has also experienced booms in civil construction and mining.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, however, Panama has entered more uncertain political and economic terrain. A drought has reduced activity in the Panama Canal. Increasing numbers of migrants traveling through the Darién Gap, Panama’s jungle border with Colombia, have strained humanitarian services. Last year, authorities shuttered the country’s most profitable copper mine, which accounted for an estimated 3.5 percent of Panama’s GDP in 2021.”
Ahh, but the left had a solution to this: Lawfare, they’d pin a corruption charge on Martinelli, in this case, money-laundering, while ignoring the corruption in their own camp.
And sure enough, suddenly concerned about money-laundering, they succeeded.
Here’s the New York Times headline from March 2024:
“Panama Bars Ex-Leader Martinelli From Presidential Election
The electoral tribunal disqualified Ricardo Martinelli, saying he was ineligible to run because of his conviction for money laundering and sentencing to more than five years in prison.”
So with two months to run and no political charisma to speak of, Martinelli’s designated successor, Jose Raul Mulino, ran in his place.
Net result? A huge victory, with Mulino winning 35 percent of the vote in a three-way race, nine points ahead of his nearest challenger.
That had to be a surprise to the left, which thought it had solved its ‘Martinelli problem’ and the problem of its own execrable governing record through lawfare and by disqualifying Martinelli and sticking the man in jail.
The guy has since taken refuge in the Nicaraguan embassy (no idea what the politics of that are) but the stunning bottom line is, Mulino won.
They thought they had him, they thought lawfare would fix things for them — and all it did was get them thrown out of office harder.
Voters don’t like this kind of crap, and they respond by supporting the wounded party with more intensity.
They did so in Panama, and it’s out there for all to see. Now it’s time for elections in the U.S. with a full menu of ginned-up lawfare directed at frontrunner President Trump. (Silvio Canto today has an excellent post on the scope of it). We’ve seen this movie before.
Too bad Democrats haven’t.
Monica Showalter is a journalist whose analyses have appeared in Forbes, the Asia Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily, and American Thinker.