George W. Bush visit to Panama

I'm following up with my previous post. He came and everything was fine, at least it wasn't a mess like when his father came. Security was extra tight, people here in Panama (some at least) were pretty upset about it. Some major roads were closed, so public transportation and traffic couldn't get through them, so it was very difficult for people to get to where they needed to go. I did not encounter any of it. When I got out of work I didn't even find traffic. I think his trip to Panama wasn't as tense as his trips to the other two countries (Argentina and Brazil) and that he could actually relax a little when he was here. He went to the Canal and took the controls of the Panama Canal on Monday, voicing support for plans to widen the century-old waterway. He got a tour of the locks nearest the Pacific Ocean and pulled levers allowing a Maltese cargo ship to pass through. Earlier, he called the canal a "marvel". And he said it's "wise" of Panamanians to plan a $10 billion expansion. The canal, handed over to Panamanian control five years ago, still carries 14% of US export and import traffic. But more and more cargo ships are too big to use it. So he had a very busy morning here in Panama...he went to the "Palacio de las Garzas" which is our Presidency here in Panama, went to the Canal, had lunch (yummy!), meeting with our President, meeting with government people, meeting with businessmen, visited an American cementery here in Panama and the last thing he did was stop at a baseball diamond on a former US army base. He tossed a pair of pitches and posed for pictures with half-dozen Panamanian players in the US major leagues (including Mariano Rivera...yeah!) and a pair of Little League teams.

I thought it was extremely funny that the people who wanted to demonstrate against him...had the opportunity to do it...but when he was already gone!!! Since I don't agree with the way they demonstrate I thought it was hilarious. So nothing new...some people were against his visit, some people agreed with it.