Panama Week 2001
"Linking the World through Transportation,
Telecommunications & Friendship"
Washington, D.C.

"Friendship Award" 2001 Gala
Hall of the Americas, Organization of American States
Seventeenth Street & Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C.



Ambassador Juan Sosa, President, 
U.S.-Panama Business Council
(USA Chapter)

Presentation of Colors 
JROTC Bell Multicultural School & 
Singing of God Bless America & the National Anthems*

Recognition of Heroism at Ground Zero on September 11th
Captain Erick B. Weekes
Ladder 126, Jamaica-Queens, New York

Felix Carles, President, USPA (Panama Chapter) presents book on Panama, signed by high public officials & business leaders visiting Washington as part of Panama Week 2001 program, to Captain Erick Weekes -born in Panama but a U.S. Citizen -as a small token of USPA's appreciation for his heroism and great public service at Ground Zero


Ambassador Juan B. Sosa, USPA, H.E. Juan Manuel Castulovich, Ambassador of Panama to the Organization of American States, Jerry Salazar, Director, Panama Maritime Authority; H.E. Jose Miguel Aleman, Minister of Foreign Relations; Marcia Weekes; Captain Erick Weekes & Guests

"Special Recognition" 2001
Felix Carles
President, U.S.-Panama Business Council (Panama Chapter)

Ambassador Juan B. Sosa (left), Honoree Felix Carles (middle), & Ricardo Eskildsen 
presenting the "Special Recognition" 2001

Recipient "Friendship Award" 2001
Harold Bernstein
Retired Chairman & CEO
Petroterminal de Panama/Northville Industries

Samuel Lewis Navarro (left)  presents "Friendship Award" 2001 to 
Harold Bernstein (middle).  Robert McMillan, Chairman, USPA (right)

Keynote Speech & Recipient "Friendship Award" 2001
His Excellency Jose Miguel Aleman
Minister of Foreign Relations, Republic of Panama


Head Table



Guests at Head Table:  
H.E. Jose Miguel Aleman & Victoria Dutari de Aleman; Harold Bernstein & Helen Bernstein; H.E. Guillermo Ford; H.E. Juan Manuel Castulovich & Milena Castulovich; John Keane; Samuel Lewis Navarro & Anagretel de Lewis; Robert McMillan & Phoebe McMillan; Felix Carles; Ambassador Juan Sosa & Margaret de Sosa


Petroterminal de Panama Hosted Table (front); Delta Air Lines 
Hosted Table (left back); Bellsouth Hosted Table (right back)

Banco Nacional Table Hosted by Bolivar Pariente, President of the Bank and his daughter Laura Pariente


Maersk Sealand Hosted Table (left)


World Data Hosted Table

*God Bless America
God bless America
Land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Thru the night with 
a light from above
From the mountains to the prairies
To the oceans white with foam
God bless America 
My home sweet home
My home sweet home

National Anthem
United States of America

Oh, say, can you see, the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's
last gleaming!
Whose broad stripes and bright stars,
thro' the perilous fight,
O 'er the ramparts we watched, were so
gallantly streaming.
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!