Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
indigenous populations most affected. One of his major challenges was to reform the So-
cial Security Fund, which was on the verge of financial collapse, but unpopular proposals to
increase workers' contributions and raise the retirement age provoked angry street protests,
forcing the government to back down and pass a watered-down bill. He did, however, help to
tighten measures against drug-trafficking and money-laundering. And in his biggest gamble,
he green-lighted the
canal expansion
project.
The elections in May 2009 broke the political stranglehold that the PRD and PP had enjoyed
for the previous seventy years as conservative multimillionaire supermarket magnate
Ri-
cardo Martinelli
swept to power. Head of the new
Cambio Democrático
(Democratic
Change) party, he immediately launched popular initiatives: increasing the minimum wage;
establishing pensions; and ensuring free books and uniforms for school children. The country
enjoyed sustained economic growth - though the gap between the “haves” and “have-nots”
continued to increase - and the government spent a staggering $20 billion on roads, schools
and bridges across the country, as well as packing the capital with countless more sky-
scrapers, the new Metrobus and Metro systems and the extension of the Cinta Costera, in the
form of a highly controversial ring-road round Casco Viejo.
However, as with Martinelli's predecessors, corruption scandals flourished, and his increas-
ingly autocratic ruling style - alleged phone-tapping of political opponents, curtailment of
the press and overuse of police force, especially against indigenous communities - provoked
much criticism at home and internationally. In the 2014 elections, Martinelli's estranged vice-
president,
Juan Carlos Varela
, who had fallen out with his former ally after being dismissed
as foreign minister, won a surprising victory for the Partido Panameñista. His family owns
the country's biggest distillery, and he is a member of Opus Dei, but it remains to be seen
what is on his political agenda.
THE BILLION-DOLLAR GAMBLE: EXPANDING THE PANAMA
CANAL
The ongoing
canal expansion
programme aims to accommodate most post-Panamax ves-
sels (ships that don't currently fit in the canal) through a larger set of locks and improve
the canal's efficiency by widening the Gaillard Cut. Initially budgeted at $5.3 billion, with
a completion date of 2014, the project may not be finished until 2016 and its costs have
soared. Many regard the two-week strike by workers in early 2014 over who should pay for
the $1.6 billion in cost overruns - ironically just as the canal was celebrating its centenary
- as an ominous sign of further troubles to come. As it is, some modern ships are too large
even to fit through the new lock gates, and once again there are plans to construct a rival
canal across Nicaragua, this time backed by the Chinese.
