Martinelli obtained a bit more than 60 percent of the votes in a three-way election for president. I don't recall anything like it in many years. The winner is a millionaire (a fact that can be something of a handicap at the ballot box) who owns a chain of supermarkets, is for free enterprise, openly pro-American and, contrary to the superstitions of Chavéz's ''21st Century Socialism,'' he and his party belong to the Latin American Liberal Network (RELIAL) presided over by the Costa Rican politician Otto Guevara. Voters knew all of this and yet resolutely backed him.
On July 1, Martinelli will enter Garzas Palace -- the elegant Panamanian seat of government -- to confront many important tasks: expansion of the Panama Canal, eradication of corruption, improvement of public education, and reduction of the 28 per cent poverty rate -- among other things.
Job creation is key
Being a successful businessman, Martinelli knows that he needs to stimulate the creation of jobs. He knows that what makes a society wealthy is the entrepreneurial fabric that it is able to weave. The greater the number of enterprises, and the more complex and sophisticated the goods and services they produce, the wealthier the whole of society will be, and the higher the salaries its workers can command.
He and those around him want the distribution of income in their country to be more egalitarian, as is the case, for example, in Canada, and in Scandinavian societies, yet they know that equality is not achieved by governmental redistribution of income but rather the development of a strong private-enterprise sector that needs the services of a well-educated workforce that commands high salaries. What is needed is to increase ``human or social capital.''
Martinelli knows that for the miracle of collective development to take place, the country needs to have a stable macroeconomic framework, a climate of fairness-open to competition-institutions that work responsibly, and a neutral and reasonably speedy judicial system to tackle the inevitable conflicts that come up in any human conglomerate. At the same time, as a scholar of prosperity and stability, he surely has made his the intelligent conclusions of Robert Putnam and the urgent need for ''social capital.'' If Panamanians do not increase it, they will be condemned to mediocrity.
Martinelli knows, additionally, that his stay at the presidency is fleeting, and that five years hence he will exit power with his work only partially completed. It has been said many times, but it is worth repeating that ''a president never finishes his plan.'' He is only the temporary captain of a drifting ship that has been sailing for a long time, and that will go on its journey when he leaves the helm.
No party boss
No society is capable of transformation in five years. Twenty or 25 years are necessary. His group needs to understand clearly the fundamentals of republican principles and how wealth is created and destroyed, and his governing hierarchy has to possess the virtues of honesty and spirit of service.
At the same time, his party will need to be provided with a fair system for the selection of its leaders. The succession should not come down to the decision of the ''Boss,'' but rather to what the base of the party wants. Democracy begins at home. If Martinelli achieves this goal, his legacy will be huge, and Panamanians will be forever grateful.
