PANAMA CITY (AP) – President Juan Carlos Varela is an unlikely champion of clean government in Panama.
He is the leader of the oldest political party in a country long perceived as one of Latin America’s most corrupt. And he served as vice president in the free-spending, scandal-ridden government of his predecessor, Ricardo Martinelli, opening his mouth to publicly criticize the now disgraced former leader only when he was pushed aside by his one-time ally.
Yet, since Varela’s surprise come-from-behind election victory last year, the scion of one of Panama’s richest families has deftly ridden a groundswell of popular rage with politics as usual.
Driven by a steady flow of media leaks and confessions by former officials, prosecutors have opened corruption investigations against more than 12 Martinelli aides and allies. Several have already been jailed and Martinelli himself has fled the country while the Supreme Court weighs lifting his immunity from prosecution.
Panamanians, who since Gen. Manuel Noriega’s dictatorship have grown accustomed to seeing elected officials raid government coffers, have been cheering the new emphasis on probity. They have rewarded Varela with a 60 percent approval rating – the highest of any head of state in Latin America and almost double the level of support he got in narrowly winning the presidency.