Page 20 - Anatomy-of-a-Fraud

contention that Barletta's victory was made possible by a fraud on an unprecedented
scale, Arias de Para transcribes numerous statements from influential institutions

representing different aspects of Panamanian life, chief among them the Catholic

Church, denouncing the abuses and irregularities perpetrated throughout the electoral
process. The chapter concludes with a lengthy list of foreign denunciations of the

fraud, headed by that of the U.S. observers invited by the Panamanian Human Rights
Committee. The American team concluded “that in a fully free election, Arias

probably would have been the winner”.

In his Epilogue, Arias de Para points to recent instances of official corruption

to substantiate his view that “The fraud was not an isolated instance of corruption and
abuse of power. The fraud was the logical conclusion of Lord Acton's dictum: Power

corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely”.