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Juan Carlos Varela Elected New President Of Panama

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Jun 02, 2014
in Investing, Panama
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President Varela walking to his inauguration
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What Do We Think Of The New Guy In Panama?

Last month, Panama elected a new president but not the guy everyone expected.

Until a few weeks before the May 4 vote, most of us in Panama assumed that current President Ricardo Martinelli’s guy, Jose Domingo Arias, would take it. But, as the election neared, friends began to suggest that the outcome was no longer so predictable. People were concerned that Martinelli and his party (which Jose Domingo also represented) were amassing too much power. Consolidated power makes people in this part of the world nervous.

So, indeed, on May 4, it was not Jose Domingo but Juan Carlos Varela who walked away with the vote. In the month since, every Panamanian I’ve spoken with has told me that he (or she) is happy with the way things played out.

“I didn’t vote for Varela,” one friend told me, “but I’m fine with him. Really, I was just voting against Arias. Anyone other than Martinelli’s guy was ok by me.”

Our point of view is that of the foreign investor and businessperson, not that of the Panamanian, of course. From where we sit, we have no beef with Martinelli. His policies, perspective, and practices were pro-business and pro-foreign investment. He invested heavily in infrastructure, from the expansion of Panama City’s Tocumen International Airport to the construction of a new airport nearer the Pacific beaches…from completely remaking the road systems in Panama City and building the first line of the capital’s new metro to expanding and improving the road from Panama City to Colon…and on and on.

Martinelli also instituted the new “Specific Countries” visa, which has made it much easier for us to hire the staff we’ve needed to grow our business these past few years.

I’ve written often of the downsides of living day-to-day amidst infrastructure work on such a colossal scale. The noise, congestion, traffic jams, dust, dirt, and flying concrete have been inescapable and sometimes overwhelming these past five years of Martinelli’s reign. We’ve had to remind ourselves often of the big-picture agenda the man was chasing. When he took office, Panama City’s infrastructure was head and shoulders above that of any other city in Central America…but it was not up to supporting the mega-growth this town was positioned for and continues to enjoy. (Panama’s economy has grown by an average of 8% per year for the past 6 years.)

Martinelli and his team sprinted out of the gate upon winning the vote five years ago, and they haven’t paused to take a breath since. Just watching them has been exhausting for us. I think maybe Panamanians feel the same way. Time to slow down a little…time to regroup.

New airports, roads, bridges, overpasses, government buildings, and cell towers were needed. Now they’ve been built. What next?

Varela says schools and hospitals. Makes sense to us. If Panama is going to sustain its recent growth levels, it’s going to need growing pools of educated labor.

No word from Varela yet on the Specific Countries visa enacted by Executive Decree from Martinelli. Typically in this part of the world, the new guy wants nothing to do with the policies of the former guy. We’re hoping Varela bucks that trend, as he has suggested he’d like to do.

Kathleen Peddicord

P.S. We awoke this morning to the first pre-dawn storm of consequence this rainy season. The skies rumbled, roared, and shuddered. Rain fell in sheets and lightening shot through the gray in hot white bursts.

I pulled the sheets up tight and rolled over to watch out the window and take it all in, lingering in bed as long as I dared. Deadlines beckoned.

Thanks to the rains of the past few weeks, Panama is as green as Ireland and blooming. This country is home to more than 10,000 varieties of plants. Our current issue of the Panama Letter features a photo spread showcasing some particularly impressive blossoms. If you’re a Panama Letter subscriber, watch for it in your inbox this week.

Continue reading: Lifestyle Options In Argentina From Buenos Aires To Wine Country And Salta

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Tags: 'Investing In Panama'Foreign Investment In PanamaJose Domingo AriasJuan Carlos VarelaPanama City MetroRicardo MartinelliSpecific Countries Visa
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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

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