Balbina Herrera - Hit In The Face With A Beer Can
(panama-guide.com) At about 4:30 pm on Monday afternoon, the presidential candidate from the Partido Revolucionario Democratico, Balbina Herrera, was in Penonomé celebrating Carnival. She was on top of a water truck, hosing down the people below, when someone threw a beer can that hit her in the face. She had a cut on her upper lip near the left side of her mouth, as you can see in this photo. Now, since this incident happened, there has been a whole string of accusations back and forth. Balbina said she knows who threw the can, and that it was a person who sympathizes with the campaign of her political rival, Ricardo Martinelli. From my point of view, there are a whole lot of things going on here that simply don't make sense. (more)
"I Don't Have Protection" At one point during a telephone interview with Lucy Molinar from TVN Channel 2, Balbina Herrera said that she does not have any kind of security element to protect her and that she was "all alone." Well I'm sorry, but I know for a fact that six members of Panama's "Servicio de Protección Institucional" (Institutional Protection Service) (SPI) were assigned to all of the main presidential candidates effective 1 January 2009. Now, where those guys were physically when this incident occurred, I don't know and really don't care. The point I'm making here is that in fact, there are at least six SPI agents assigned to protect Balbina Herrera 24/7.
"There Were No Police There" During the same telephone interview Balbina Herrera said that there were no police officers on duty in Penonomé in the area where the water was being sprayed. Of course, her statement flies directly into the face of the steady streams of news releases and propaganda coming from the Panamanian National Police that talked about how they were all over the place to make sure the carnival celebrations this year were safe and sound. So which is it - there were no police officers there, or there were cops all over the place? They can't both be true.
"I Asked Him 'Why Did You Do This?'" Balbina Herrera supposedly came down from the top of the truck that was being used to spray water, and with blood streaming down her face, and all alone, she walked straight up to the person who supposedly threw the beer at her and she spoke to him. She says she asked him why he did it, and "for who did he do this favor?" Personally, I don't think she has a clue who hit her with the beer. I think she was just up there spraying water and some drunken idiot in the crowd threw the beer and hit her in the face. I think she climbed down and went to get medical attention for the cut on her lip. I personally don't buy this whole thing about how she supposedly knows who threw the can for a second. Not in that level of chaos - no way. At least, it's highly unlikely.
An Underfunded and Struggling Campaign: Balbina Herrera should not have been hit by a beer can, of course. But at the same time I know she's far behind in the polls. And, one of her primary problems is a shortage of funds to be able to keep pace with Martinelli for campaign spending. Everyone out there in the business community pretty much knows that they will be throwing away any money they might donate to her campaign, so why should they follow good money after bad? This event represents an opportunity for Balbina Herrera to win a few sympathy votes and to scoop some camera and press time over a dumb little incident like getting popped in the face with a beer can at Carnival.
25 Stitches? What? Supposedly, doctors used 25 stitches to close this cut on her lip. Oh, really? If that's the case, then those were some pretty small stitches. She didn't lose any teeth. She didn't break any bones in her face. She got hit with a beer can that was probably about half full, and it cut her lip. I mean, go back and take a look at the photo yourself - does that look like it's worth 25 stitches? Hey, what do I know. Knit one, pearl two... But what I suspect is that she's using this incident to get as much sympathy as possible, and 25 stitches simply sounds a whole lot more drastic and dramatic than "a band aid..."
She Didn't Want To Point The Guy Out: Another thing I'm having trouble buying into is that Balbina Herrera supposedly knew who threw the beer can at her, that his person is a sympathizer of Ricardo Martinelli, and that Balbina Herrera supposed did the "responsible thing" by not pointing this person out to the crowd. She said that "these are people from the street, the poor people" that were with her, and if she did identify the person that they would have killed him or worse. Again, I say "bullshit." I think she just got hit in the face by a beer can thrown by some random drunk asshole, but that's not good enough for news coverage. So, they cooked up this whole drama to get more face time (get it? Face time?)
The Martinelli Camp Responds: The campaign of Ricardo Martinelli has been dancing around in response to all of the crap that's been spinning out of the Balbina Herrera camp since this happened. They're on the defensive, responding, and have lost the initiative. Martinelli said whoever did this is a criminal and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible under the law. He called on Balbina Herrera to do the responsible thing as a citizen and to file a criminal complaint against the person (since she supposedly knew who it was.) He said he sorry that it happened, and that it's totally inexcusable under any circumstances, but in fact there's nothing to indicate whoever actually threw the beer can was either a member of the Cambio Democratico political party or a sympathizer of Ricardo Martinelli. And, if it turns out to be the case, then that person would be summarily expelled from the party.
Well, He Wasn't A Fan: Whoever threw the beer can obviously wasn't a Balbina Herrera fan. I mean it wasn't like "Hey Balbina, want a beer? Here, take mine... (sling) (oh, shit...)" There are a whole lot of people out there who literally hate Balbina Herrera's guts. And, those people are probably going to be voting for Ricardo Martinelli. Now, if one of those guys was drunk enough and dumb enough to do this, that doesn't mean it was Ricardo Martinelli's fault. No matter, that's how the (desperate) Balbina Herrera camp is trying to spin this incident. And of course it could not have been anyone from the Guillermo Endara camp, because it was a BEER can, not a nice warm cup of Metamucil.
Remember the "Gringuera" Incident? Supposedly at a PRD only event, while Balbina Herrera was still the Minister of Housing and a member of the Martin Torrijos Executive Cabinet, PRD lawmaker Juan Hernandez called Balbina a "Gringuera" (gringo lover) and in response she hauled off and smacked him in the face. According to people who were there, she supposedly ripped his face open and broke several nails on her bitch-slapping hand. There have been several reports over the years of Balbina Herrera losing her temper and resorting to physical violence against those who are pissing her off. So, maybe she can relate to the beer can slinging drunk guy from that point of view. Just a thought... In any case, Balbina Herrera denouncing acts of spontaneous violence is like, well, hypocritical. I mean, everyone knows shes a slugger herself.
A Waste Of A Perfectly Good Beer! Most importantly in all of this, I would like to remind everyone that throwing partially full cans of beer at politicians of any stripe is, more than anything else, an inexcusable waste of perfectly good beer. I would suggest that as an alternative you might want to drink the beer first, piss in the empty can, and then throw that. I mean, that would be more appropriate in any case, and it avoids the waste.
Now It's A Federal Case: This morning the PRD dominated office of the Prosecutor of the Electoral Tribunal said they were going to be formally investigating the incident. Good. Supposedly prosecutor Boris Barrios already took a sworn statement from Balbina Herrera in which she supposedly identified the supposed beer can slinging drunk guy. Good. I would love to see a copy of her sworn statement. It probably says something like "the guy who threw the bottle was a middle aged fat drunk white man wearing a Cambio Democratico t-shirt..." Yeah, Balbina, we believe you. Anyway, the words "Balbina Herrera" appear frequently in this article, so 'atta way to take one for the team. They even talked about the shoe throwing incident with George Bush in the Panamanian news media this morning. Interesting enough, the take was "that guy was so pissed off at George Bush that he couldn't help himself - I guess there are people out there who are pissed off at Balbina Herrera as well..." I think that pretty much sums it up.
