Caribbean & Central America - October 2013 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Less than a month after President Ricardo Martinelli was forced to repeal an October 2012 decree which teachers complained would pave the way for the privatisation of the sector [RC-13-09], he is now facing similar concerns from doctors and other health workers regarding a recently approved law.

On 2 October President Martinelli promulgated law 661 which eases the restrictions on allowing the government to contract foreign medical specialists. In an address to the nation delivered the same day he justified the move in the face of the current deficit of medical specialists in some parts of the country. He gave as examples the fact that the Darién jungle province (pop.48.378), has just four medical specialists; the Ngöbe-Buglé comarca (indigenous administrative region) has just two specialists for a population of 156,747 while the Guna Yala comarca, (pop. 33,109) has no specialists at all. Martinelli was also clear to underline other government efforts to address this deficit. He said that there are 439 people currently being trained as specialists compared with the 65 who trained in 2009 under the previous Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD) government of former president, Martín Torrijos (2004-2009).

This argument has yet to convince unions like the Comisión Médica Negociadora Nacional (Comenenal) which launched an indefinite strike on 27 September. Comenenal argues that the law would allow for the privatisation of the health care sector and threatens the job stability of its workers. Comenenal is also suspicious of the government’s intentions vis-à-vis Ciudad Hospitalaria, a new metropolitan medical facility currently being built in Panama City, concerns that Martinelli addressed in his televised speech. He said that to eliminate any “suspicion”, he had recommended the director of the social security fund (CSS) – the largest provider of public health services to suspend any administrative processes aimed at contracting out services for Ciudad Hospitalaria.

With some 25,000 public health officials having joined the strike, including those affiliated to the Coordinadora Nacional de Gremios, Profesionales y Técnicos de la Salud, comprising some 33 separate groups, it remains to be seen whether Martinelli will be forced to back down. As well as his repeal of the October 2012 presidential decree following pressure from the teachers, Martinelli has back-tracked on previous efforts to privatise other sectors. These include his failed October 2012 attempts to sell off State lands in the Colón Free Trade Zone (FTZ) [RC-12-11].

• Gaining ground in the polls

Martinelli’s latest stand-off with the unions comes as the presidential candidate for his Cambio Democrático (CD) party, former housing minister José Domingo Arias (2011-2013), is gaining ground in the polls ahead of the May 2014 general elections. The latest Dichter & Neira poll, released on 16 September, gave Arias 37% of voting intentions, up from 33% in August. In second place is Juan Carlos Navarro of the Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD) who is on 24%, down from 27% the previous month. Meanwhile Juan Carlos Varela of the Partido Panameñista (PPA) is on 22%, down from 24%. The pollster, which interviewed 1,200 people nationwide on 13-15 September bar the Darién jungle area and the Comarcas, attributed Arias's strong performance to the high approval ratings of the Martinelli government, which reached 69% in September- up from 65% in August and 63% in July. Dichter & Neira attributed the government’s continued popularity to its social programmes like ‘100 a los 70’, which provides a monthly US$100 stipend for people aged 70 years or older without a pension and as well as Martinelli’s flagship infrastructure project: the US$1.8bn Panama City metro which is due to begin operating in January 2014 and will address a key voter concern – public transport chaos in the capital (see sidebar).

• Panama City metro

The Panama City metro, which will have the capacity to transport 15,000 people an hour, is due to begin operating in January 2014. Last month President Ricardo Martinelli announced that it will be free for the duration of the test period. In the latest Dichter & Neira poll, the majority of respondents (71%) expected the metro would help resolve the capital’s notorious traffic problems, up from 62% of respondents the previous month.

• PRD scandal

The presidential candidate for the opposition Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD), Juan Carlos Navarro, could well see his position slide in the polls following a scandal which broke in late September involving his party. A national deputy, Raúl Pineda, was expelled from the PRD after he was accused of the murder of a local PRD activist, Juan Ramón Messina, a case which has been linked to organised crime.