Pedro Gonzalez survived a year of controversy

PANAMA.Pedro Miguel Gonzalez, the man the Americans want to arrest for the murder of the Puerto Rican soldier Zack Hernández, has survived a year as the president of the National Assembly, despite the pressures put on him by the President of the Republic, Martín Torrijos, the U.S. government and his legislative colleagues.

Gonzalez finished his term on Monday and is leaving behind 89 bills approved in third debate, but also has the dubious honor of being the National Assembly president who hired the most security personnel in its history.

He managed almost single-handedly to block progress of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA)between Panama and the United States.

After his departure from the presidency of the Assembly it is expected that the FTA will finally be approved by the Unites States Senate, but much will depend on the meeting Torrijos will have with George W. Bush on September 17.

Pedro Miguel is respected among his peers, but his past has haunted him since the early 90s.

He upset Torrijos when on September 1 of last year he promised him that he would not run for the National Assembly presidency and then went behind his back to seek the post and win it.

The 43 year old politician is the son of one of the Revolutionary Democratic Party’s founders, Gerardo Gonzalez. The younger Gonzalez became part of the official party ruling group and one of the president’s closest allies.

In fact, a few weeks before he decided to run for president the National Assembly, he told President Martin Torrijos about his aspirations and was supported by him, until a couple of days before September 1 when the Head of State asked him to back off given international pressure.