Good question.
Chavez is a thug and most of the countries down here are playing this by ear but they also know who carries the big stick. They want to sell to the USA at some point.
There is a huge immigration of wealthy Venezuelans coming to Panama to ride out the storm over there. At some point, my guess is that they will hire someone to take care of the situation.
Ortega may or may not be refomed. Educated guess around here is to wait and see how the talks go between his government and the US. If we see a lot of rich Nicas coming to Panama, then we know the answer. Costa Rica is basically for the poor Nicas by the way.
In the short run, yes. Long run...they are angling to have China buy up their oil.