I'm John Besser with my colleague Professor Avinelis, the Latin American Research Professor

at the US Army War College.

Election in Panama, an election in Democratic,

the Dominican Republic,

and darkness visible in Nicaragua.

We go to Panama because it looks like a positive story.

A man named Jose Raoul Molino is the president-elect of Panama. And the news reports,

Reuters I trust, says that he's entertaining businessman and transparency for his cabinet

choices and looks to put Panama back on a road to prosperity after the drought of the

canal, the dispute over the copper mine, and the

Darien Gap. He has also said he wants to close or restrict or shut down the Darien

Gap. Professor, are you surprised by Molino's good remarks about getting back to making money?

Especially because he's a protege, I believe, or at least certainly was a follower of Martinelli, the corrupt previous

president who keeps hiding in the Nicaragua embassy.

Is Molino surprising you?

Well, Molino it has been happily unsurprising.

I think there's a lot of attention on the angle of Ricardo Martinelli

and the legal cases against him in the fact that that the Molino is a close

personal friend and very loyal to Martinelli. There was some emphasis on the you

Molino as essentially a surrogate for Martinelli. is a

you know, you know, Molino as a, essentially a surrogate for Martinelli. But the reality is that Molino is a very, you know, capable politician with a lot of experience in his own right.

He previously been the security minister.

...