Back in Panama after a couple of trips, the saga of strange Americans continues. I haven't seen my two Trump-supporting 'friends' again, but have managed to meet some other Americans without such extreme views. Well, if you are a Republican then maybe you think a Bernie supporter is extreme, but being well to the left myself I feel in good company with these people. We've had a few conversations about social justice which have given me a nice warm feeling to know there are other people who see the world in the same way that I do.
But I had perhaps been lulled into a bit of a false sense of security. Last night I was out at another of these expat social events and found myself in conversation with the two nice Bernie-supporting friends, and eventually, I'm not really sure how, the conversation turned to 9/11 - the terrorist attack on the twin towers. Only I was the only one who thinks it was a terrorist attack. Apparently the towers collapsed through controlled demolitions set up by the US authorities working with the Jewish lobby, to cover up a loss by the Pentagon of $1 trillion and to justify an invasion of Afghanistan. I asked about the aeroplanes which had been seen flying into the towers. Holograms, apparently.
What can you say? They are both nice people, and I hope that if they read this they will still want to be friends with me, but really! I went into work this morning wanting to share this story with someone, and the natural target was my American-born staff member, until it occurred to me that she has a belief that I find even less credible than holograms of planes - that there is some guy up in the sky who created us all (and the world we live in), who loves us all and who has absolute power, but who does nothing to prevent wars, terrorists, painful diseases or offshore shell companies...
Well, how could a resident of Panama not mention the Panama papers?
Not that being resident here has given me any insight beyond that in all the international press. I do though see the frustration here that the image of the country is being tarnished, many seeing it as unfair that the name of the country is used rather than just the name of the law firm concerned. However it is the extreme secrecy protected by law here that has facilitated the business of Mossack Fonseca, and members of both the Mossack and Fonseca families are amongst the government's ministers and advisors. So I don't believe the country can legitimately wash its hands of responsibility.
Ironic then that it is so hard for regular expats like myself (ie not the 1%) to even open a bank account. It took me six months and reams of paperwork to get mine, and some expat colleagues have never succeeded, resigning themselves to run their lives here on a cash basis. I already feel like a bit of a pariah when I see the attitudes in the UK towards Buy-to-Let landlords - although I was a Buy-to-Live-in owner who just happened to go to work abroad and didn't want to leave my flat sitting empty for ten years (which surely would be worse in terms of social justice when there is such a housing shortage?). Now I will not only be embarrassed to admit that I am a landlady, but also embarrassed to admit where I live. Do I have to change the name of this blog to louisesomewhereincentralamerica?
