politics

Torrijos tight- lipped

President Martín Torrijos's visit to Washington this week has produced, for the most part, an official silence.

It's known that one of Torrijos's goals was to get the White House to send Congress an important trade treaty, the Tratado de Promoción Comercial (TPC), because time for ratifying the agreement is running out. But all of the president’smeetings took place behind closed doors. Little has been revealed of their substance.

Pronouncements from both sides have been limited to flattering and empty phrases. The only exceptions are the views expressed by Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen regarding Torrijos's relationship with Fidel Castro.

Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican with Cuban roots, is ferocious in her opposition to the Cuban leader.

"The vitality and promise of Panama's democracy and its growing economy serve as a bulwark against the forces of chaos and instability in the region. I am gravely concerned about President Torrijos' recent visit to Cuba. I cannot fathom how, as a democratically-elected leader, he would seek to expand relations with the Cuban communist dictatorship. President Torrijos should, instead, offer his support to and strengthen Panama's ties with Cuba's human rights dissidents and peaceful pro-democracy opposition," said Ros-Lehtinen.

The Congresswoman also criticized "the influence" of communist China in Panama.