Panama Nominee Tied to G.I.’s Death

PANAMA, Aug. 29 (Reuters) — The governing party has nominated a lawmaker who was indicted for the drive-by killing of an American soldier in the 1990s as its candidate to head Congress, in a vote likely to upset Washington.

The Revolutionary Democratic Party backed the lawmaker, Pedro Miguel González, on Tuesday night, making him almost certain to win the post in a vote Saturday.

Mr. González, 42, was indicted in the United States on charges that he shot dead Sgt. Zak A. Hernandez of the Army in June 1992, a day before a visit by President George Bush. At a tense time after the 1989 American invasion and capture of the Panamanian leader, Manuel Antonio Noriega, The sergeant was killed when the Humvee he was driving was ambushed north of Panama City.

Mr. González said he was at a demonstration to protest the Bush visit at the time of the shooting and he was acquitted at a 1997 trial in Panama.

For some unkown reason, Latins seem to like to cut their own throats. Here is more:

Panama Parliamentarians Defy US Pressure
Wednesday, August 29 2007 @ 05:27 PM EST
Contributed by: Don Winner
http://www.panama-guide.com/index.php?topic=politicshttp://www.panama-guide.com/index.php?topic=politics

Panama, Aug 29 (Prensa Latina) In an open challenge to US pressure to prevent Deputy Pedro Miguel Gonzalez from being elected as president of the Panamanian Parliament, most of his colleagues will guarantee his election for that post. Political opponents, including former President Mireya Moscoso, made Washington’s veto of Gonzalez public in recent days. They insisted that Gonzalez’s election would anger the US government. Local media recalled that the White House has accused Gonzalez of being involved in the assassination of a US soldier in 1992, although he was found not guilty in court. A meeting of the governing Democratic Revolutionary Party, which has a majority at the National Assembly, approved Gonzalez’s nomination unanimously on Tuesday, thus guaranteeing his election.

Incumbent Parliament President Elias Castillo told reporters covering the meeting that the deputies ignored any kind of pressure to make their decision.

Deputy Raul Rodriguez, president of the Government Committee, ruled out any interference by another agency or government in the election of the president of Parliament.

Panamanian President Martin Torrijos, who is the general secretary of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, said to those fearing that Gonzalez’s election might jeopardize relations with Washington that “it is an issue of domestic politics.”

Sorry for the late reply. I have been juggling several things at the same time all day long. Now I can relax for a few minutes.

That was a good link to the Panama News. I had missed that article. It makes my blood boil, but I don’t expect anything different from these crooks in and connected with politics to include our own country.

Thank you.

Also, I was having big problems with my computer this a.m. and was not able to post the following comment in connection with my post #6.

In reference to my post #6, Don Winner (panama-guide.com) is e-mailing the following to everyone in D.C. hoping it will get some attention/traction.

He writes:

“Because it makes them easier to email. I’m putting together a collection of everything I can find about this case and then it’s all going into one of those “send this to everyone you know” emails. I will personally send it to every member of the US House of Representatives and Senate, as well as to every email address I can find in Washington DC (should only be about 1.3 million, so no sweat.) If Pedro Miguel Gonzalez is going to be running the National Assembly in Panama, at the very least I want to make sure that they know about it in Washington DC. And I mean, everybody in Washington DC.”

Regards.

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