Page 38 - Anatomy-of-a-Fraud

A. “It’s not mandatory but you’d better be there.”

The Republic of Panama has a payroll of some 150,000 employees throughout
the country. Considering that the voting population totals 917,000, the electoral
strength of the civil servants is manifest.
The first thing Barletta did was to send each and every one of them, using his
or her name and surnames several times, a letter asking their opinion on several national
issues. The letter included an ominous and melodramatic paragraph: “As in the past,
the threat now looms over thousands of families that a future change of government
may wreak havoc in their households”. Or, in plain talk: if I do not win, they will fire
you on the spot. And yet, ironically, this is exactly what will come to pass when the
UNADE comes to power, for it includes five parties that have been away from the
government for 16 years and cannot wait to get their share of the spoils. Moreover, the
financial restrictions imposed upon the Republic of Panama by the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which Barletta intimately knows and for which
he is largely responsible, stipulate a reduction of current official expenditures, to be
7
achieved, no doubt, through personnel cutbacks. Of course, Barletta did not mention
any of this. He preferred to lie and use fear and veiled threats to coerce the thousands
of citizens who earn their livelihood by serving the republic.

The letter enclosed a questionnaire which the addressee was requested to fill
out, sign and mail back to UNADE Campaign Headquarters. As to the addressee’s
signature, the letter read: “should you decide not to sign, this shall not affect the
importance of your opinions for me”. Perhaps the importance of the civil servant’s
opinions would not be affected, but his chances for continued employment undoubtedly
would. We know your name and where you work; if you do not reply, you will go on
our blacklist. That was the subliminal message.

How did the UNADE manage to get its hands on a mailing list of all civil
servants? It was evidently supplied by the different government departments and
agencies. It was precisely for this purpose that the cabinet had been overhauled. And
yet, this subtle albeit very efficient method of coercion would seem but child’s play
when compared to other tactics used to secure the civil service vote.

Early in April, the PRD held a series of meetings for civil servants at a popular
dance hall known as “El Cosita Buena”. On weekdays, the meetings began right after
office hours. Participants were subjected to seemingly unending political harangues

7 The massive laybacks began earlier than expected. During the week of July 24, 167 municipal
workers were fired in La Chorrera, Colón and San Miguelito. “These austerity measures result from
the government’s commitments to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and are being
applied in several government dependencies. It has been learned that the first to undergo personnel
outback’s will be the Ministry of Public Works and the Social Security System”. La Prensa, July 26,
1984, page 8C.