Bob McMillan was the commissioner of the Panama Canal for the U.S. before its handover in 1999 to the Panamanians. Here he gives his opinion of what the recent election of Ricardo Martinelli means to the U.S. and Panama interests. He makes a mistake in his analysis and that is he states that the PRD retained control over the assembly which to me understanding is incorrect. In any case he sees a bright future for Panama under the new leadership.
Excerpts: Panama has a new democratically elected President. The May 3, 2009 presidential election in Panama was an extremely important event. Years ago the question was whether Panama could continue to transform into a real democracy? With four democratically elected presidents since 1989, eyes were focused on 2009 when the two front runners were Balbina Herrera, a Panamanian leftist with an anti-U.S. past and Ricardo Martinelli, a businessman and chairman of the Panama Canal Authority from 1999 to 2004 during the Presidency of Mireya Moscoso. He was very directly involved in the plans for expansion of the Canal. Everyone in Panama expected a close race with many Panamanian leaders expecting Balbina Herrera to win.
