Friday, Nov. 02, 2007
Postcard: Panama By Tim Padgett
Kids play and hang out during school hours in La Caseta in the barrio of Curundu in Panama City, Panama, on October 24, 2007.
Ivan Kaskinsky / WPN for TIME
These are heady days for tiny Panama. It is undertaking a massive expansion of the Panama Canal, luring billions of dollars in maritime and high-tech investment that could make it the Hong Kong of the Americas. But here's the other side: in the past few months, scores of toddlers have died of malnutrition in villages around the country. More than half of Panamanian children under 5 are at risk of suffering the same fate. That's why, say friends of Wilson (Chuck) Lucom, who died last year at 88, the eccentric U.S. millionaire left as much as $50 million in his will for poor children's charities in Panama. It's the largest private gift ever made here. The will doesn't single out which relief organizations will be recipients. But, as the director of a charity that may benefit says, it could have a "tremendous impact on our ability to save these children."
That is, if the kids ever see the money. Lucom's widow Hilda, 83, the frail matriarch of Panama's prominent Arias family (a clan that has produced two of Panama's Presidents), with the support of her children is battling to get the will declared invalid. They say the will's U.S. executor, Florida tax attorney Richard Lehman, concocted the charity donation so he could split the money with other Lucom cronies.
Read the full text in http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1680177,00.html
More on the story.. Litigios y disputas by Tomás A. Cabal
http://www.elsiglo.com/siglov2/Imprimir.php?fechaz=18-01-2007&idnews=33137
La muerte del empresario norteamericano Wilson C. Lucom ha desatado una serie de juicios y litigios sobre el destino de la enorme fortuna que dejó al momento de morir. De acuerdo a documentos aportados por los abogados de Lucom World Peace Limited (Fiduciaria de Fundación Wilson C. Lucom Trust Fund), han tenido que interponer una demanda en los tribunales de Panamá y los Estados Unidos contra la viuda del conocido empresario para asegurar que se cumpla con su testamento. De por medio están depósitos bancarios que suman millones de dólares, apartamentos, residencias y la Hacienda Santa Mónica que por muchos años fue propiedad de la familia Arias...
EN PRO DE LA NIÑEZ. Testamento by Richard Koster
http://mensual.prensa.com/mensual/contenido/2007/08/01/hoy/opinion/1066397.html
... Pero vamos a hablar de algo bueno, y de alguien que apreciaba Panamá y que tenía conciencia social. Se trata del señor Wilson Lucom, un norteamericano que vino aquí hace unos 10 ó 15 años y quedó víctima del embrujo que Panamá tiene.
Lucom nació pobre y se hizo multimillonario. Se casó dos veces, pero nunca tuvo hijos. Al venir a Panamá compró la Hacienda Santa Mónica de los herederos de Gilberto Arias Guardia. Hizo amistades coclesanas y llegó a conocer rincones como Tobaré y La Pintada. Le preocupaba la falta de oportunidad para jóvenes en el campo y el juegovivo de la política criolla. Se preocupaba por Panamá. Murió el año pasado a los 88 y dejó gran parte de su fortuna, es decir, muchos millones, a "los niños con necesidades en Panamá"...
Panamanian Arias oligarchs after the Lucom millions By Julie Kay
http://mensual.prensa.com/mensual/contenido/2007/08/01/hoy/opinion/1066397.html
...But in the years before his death last June at age 88, Lucom embraced a new cause — helping impoverished children in Panama. His will left a big chunk of his estate, valued at $30 million to $50 million, to charities that help abandoned children and children with AIDS.
Even though Lucom’s will generously provided for his widow, Hilda “Toni” Arias Lucom, 83, a member of one of Panama’s most powerful families, she and several of her children and relatives are seeking to block the money from going to the charities. They want to invalidate the will and make Hilda the sole beneficiary.
They also seek to remove Lucom’s longtime tax lawyer, solo Palm Beach attorney Richard S. Lehman, as executor. Chuck Lucom had no biological children of his own or surviving close blood relatives.
Lucom’s will set off a nasty international legal battle in Palm Beach County — where Lucom had millions in bank accounts — and in Panama. The case raises questions about whether wealthy Americans who retire to Panama or other Latin American countries can count on having their wills and other legal documents enforced in foreign courts....
No comments:
Post a Comment