Panama's first woman president is sworn in
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from September 1999.
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Moscoso will preside over the total transfer of the canal to Panama 31 Dec., ending U.S. control of the strategic waterway. The transfer will be the final act in compliance with Panama Canal Treaties signed by President Jimmy Carter and military strongman Omar Torrijos in 1977.
"My government intends to increase the autonomy of the Canal so it may operate without partisan political influence," Moscoso told a cheering crowd of 25,000.
Since 1977, the United States has gradually turned over to Panama thousands of acres of land occupied by military bases and other installations and the administration of the canal between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans.
Moscoso said Panama will ask the U.S. to turn over occupied areas free of "contamination problems" - a reference to unexploded ordnance on firing ranges. "This problem must be resolved satisfactorily and my government will negotiate toward this end."
On the domestic front, Moscoso, widow of the late populist leader Arnulfo Arias, promised a "war on poverty and social injustice... to turn Panama into a country of opportunity for its children."
She won the election campaigning for change and promising special attention to the poor, an echo of the slogans of her late husband, deposed three times by the military partly because of his populist programs.
"We are happy to see a woman come to power for the first time," said Bertha Solis, an elementary school teacher. "She is a woman identified with Fufo (Arias), she is down-to-earth, sensitive and ready to work."
"We like that her government will be a social government," said Carlos Rodriguez, a student. "It is nice she will receive the Canal."
Moscoso pledged reforms of the health, judicial and education systems and a permanent battle against corruption.
Outgoing president Ernesto Perez Balladares, legally barred from seeking re-election, left an economy growing at 4 percent annually, a network of modern highways and reforms to the labour laws aimed at wooing foreign investment to Panama. But, to his last day in office, his administration was tainted by scandals sparked by corruption at top levels. DONOR
