Opinion Forum

Osama, Panama, and Venezuela

May 3rd, 2011

It’s early still, but the reaction in Panama seems to have been friendly to the U.S. Of course, Panama is generally more friendly to the U.S. than is most any other country in the region. Here and here are a couple of articles from la Estrella, a Panamanian newspaper. The comments are interesting as well — many take the line that violence is not the answer and that peace is better; well, yeah. (There should be Google translate widgets at the tops of the linked pages; Google translations are often far less than perfect, but it’s generally possible to figure out what is meant.) The most noisy labor unions here, generally supporting and supported by Venezuela’s Chavez, will doubtless have something to say and it will likely appear in the papers later today.

Even the Venezuelan reaction seems pretty mild thus far. According to this article from el Universal, a major Venezuelan paper published in Caracas, the Vice President was displeased with the public celebrations but said that murder is probably the only way the U.S. knows to handle problems like Osama. The el Universal article provides a short YouTube video of the Vice President’s remarks. He was likely speaking for his boss, Chavez. Chavez, a bit of a paranoid, likely is somewhat concerned that he might be next. He won’t be, but that’s Chavez. It would be a bit strange were Chavez himself not to say something later today. Otherwise, the news reports seem to have been right off the news wires.

Here is an article by Daniel, still my favorite English language blogger in Venezuela (that probably has something to do with the fact that he is about the only one left there not in the pocket of Chavez) even though he is pretty heavy on his praise for President Obama and speculates that he probably just won the 2012 election.

Nothing has appeared yet in VHeadlines, a generally pro-Chavez aggregator with some of its own stuff as well; probably later.

I’ll keep watching and may find more later today or tomorrow.

(This article was also posted at The PJ Tatler.)

UPDATE: Go to Latin American update on death of Osama Bin Laden for additional information on regional reactions.

Articles written by Dan Miller
Tags: bin Laden, Brazil, killing, Latin America, Panama, reactions, Venezuela
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