New Panamanian President

I'm pretty sure this is the guy who wanted to put more money and resources into the country's services (like the DNA). Search for his name on that one Panama news page I posted before (can't remember the link). You might be able to find his campaign platforms. Rebecca

Martin Torrijos was the expected winner and I heard he was interested in putting more resources into the International Adoption arena (per what my agency told me they were led to believe). On a side note, Panama (overall) dearly loved his father, Gen Omar Torrijos (who signed the Canal Treaty with US Pres Carter, finalizing plans to turn the canal over to Panama) before he was killed in a plane crash (which many folks think was no accident, but instigated by Noriega). Gen Torrijos was well-known for taking money for himself but he was a very people-friendly man who put A LOT into the country (building schools and hospitals etc). If the son is anything like the father (really caring about doing for the little people), then I feel confident we can expect to see positive changes in the adoption process. Also, don't know if everyone's aware of this but Derek told me that when Panama elects a new president...pretty much EVERY government person gets replaced. (It's not like here where the pres may just change a lot of his cabinet members) It's an entirely new regime from the top to the bottom of the chain. Essentially Panamanian government reinvents itself every 5 years. But they don't expect to be out of jobs til September. So dunno how this will affect most of us here, but hopefully everyone will have referrals (if not travel) by September. Robin

Robin, My husband is also Panamanian, and he told me the exact same things you posted re: Panama's new president. I am hoping that the situation will be in our favor as far as adoptions. I wonder, however, how long it will be before signficant changes are made to ease the process. I am new at this. We just recently decided to adopt from Panama, and are in the "research" phase. I've been reading the inputs from others involved in Panamanian adoption process, and became a little discouraged, but I will not give up. I know things will get better. :) Kimberley