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$2.3  million for  Carnival high jinks

Posted 04/01/2020

Panama’s  Tourism Authority (ATP)will allocate $2.3 million for the organization of this year's carnivals, which will be held in different regions of the country February 21-25,

A note published in the Official Gazette says that $1.9 million will go to the Carnival of Panama City and the remaining “ $400,000“ to the rest of the country where the activity is celebrated. It is not specified which cities would benefit from the contribution that comes from the ATP budget.

The ATP will coordinate with the police, civil protection and health authorities for  “the maintenance of public order, safety, health, decoration, decency and public morality during the celebration of the holidays”.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/events/23-million-for-carnival-high-jinks

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40,000 health and security personnel  on standby  for Carnival

Posted 17/02/2020

Over  40,000 security and emergency personnel will be deployed during the "Guardians 2020" operation to reduce highway carnage during Carnival.

At a Monday, February 17  press conference  17 authorities said that all land, naval and air components will be available to all national and foreign citizens during the Carnival festivities (February 21 to 25).

The Minister of Public Security, Juan Pino, said:  "Many of the accidents that are seen on a daily basis can be prevented," he said, so he asked citizens for "coherence."

Health, Minister  Rosario Turner, reported that 114 facilities and 80 ambulances will be available to those who need to be treated.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/events/40000-health-and-security-personnel-on-standby-for-carnival

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Carnival green alert  for hospital services

Posted 20/02/2020

The Social Security Fund (CSS) declared a “green alert” before the start of the Carnival celebrations from noon on Friday, February 21 until six in the afternoon on Wednesday, February 26.

The staff of the National Department of Emergency Management, Disasters and Patient Transportation (Dengedtp), the Emergency Services and the Executing Units of the CSS Health Network throughout the country, are alerted the entity said on Wednesday

https://www.newsroompanama.com/events/carnival-green-alert-for-hospital-services

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No police clampdown on carnival dress as morality and virus debate heats up

Posted 20/02/2020

Police Chief Jorge Miranda said Wednesday , Feb. 19 that there will  be no clampdown on what people wear at Carnival celebration after a social media conflagration ignited by calls for cancelation of the celebrations  by an evangelical pastor.

“We are not going to define what the type of clothing is. Each person is aware of how they should behave, because there are social norms recognized by each one of us. ”  said Miranda.

Police will not charge or interfere or impose measures on clothing that minors will use during carnival days in the country.

However, he warned that those who will be aware of the issue are officials of the National Secretariat for Children, Adolescents and Family (Senniaf), who will be at each of the entrances to the points where the culecos (tanks of water  used to spray celebrants) are located.

He added that as citizens "we all have to be careful not to put at risk the training of our youth and children by exposing them to activities that could put both their physical health and their personal training at risk."

Children participating in the culecos must carry their youth ID and be accompanied by at least one adult.

In a  controversial video circulating on social media Pastor Edwin Álvarez, condemns the authorities for not canceling the events because of the coronavirus outbreak. “ If there was responsibility, the carnivals would be suspended. What are you waiting for, that people get infected and fill the hospitals? ”he said

In a controversial video that circulates in social networks of the pastor in the , the holiday not only puts the population of infections at risk, it also leads the human being to perdition … Suspend those Carnivals before God's judgment falls on them !! Down with sin, down with liquor, down with immorality, down with doom !! ” Alvarez added.

The health authorities in the country have said that at the moment there is no circulation of Covid19 or new coronavirus, so there is no need to cancel the carnivals. What they have recommended are prevention measures for various diseases.

There is no scientific support for us to close some massive activity, ”said  Lourdes Moreno, an epidemiologist at the Ministry of Health .

The Catholic Church asked for sanity in carnivals. Monsignor José Domingo Ulloa called for respect for human

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/no-police-clampdown-on-carnival-dress-as-morality-and-virus-debate-heats-up

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Cinta  Costera closed   for Carnival jinks

The Queen and princesses will be crowned Friday at 8 pm.

Posted 21/02/2020

Panama’s Cinta Costera totally closed at  noon on Friday, Feb 21 to   February 26

The partying in the capital start at 8:00 pm with the coronation of  Carnival Queen  Julia Marina López Leong and her princesses Alina López and Melany Ruíz.

SECURITY
There will be security devices at the public entries and exits and during Carnival days, some 20.000 National Police (PN) officers will be deployed in 45 points in the country, where activities are scheduled.

Major Arcelio Pérez, PN chief of planning, said surveillance will not be neglected in red area, spas and transport terminals.

Pérez said that during the Carnival the entry of street vendors, sale of stick meat, alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, lighters, and pyrotechnic fires, firearms, and sharps, glass containers, and coolers will be prohibited.

Immoral acts will be prohibited on artistic stages and grounds in  which events are held

https://www.newsroompanama.com/events/cinta-costera-closed-for-carnival-jinks

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Police officer first Carnival victim

Posted 22/02/2020

The first fatal victim during Panama’s 2020 Carnival celebrations was an on-duty a police officer returning from a  call who was involved in a head-on collision in Tanara, Chepo on Friday night, February 21.

On   Saturday,  morning at least 70,000 drivers of headed towards the interior of the country, on the occasion of the carnivals and by early afternoon prehospital Emergency Management System (SUME 911) had treated about 629 emergencies including  88 traffic accidents, and police handed out scores of tickets for traffic violations.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/police-officer-first-carnival-victim-1

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Over 3.400 firefightera on duty for celebrations

Posted 22/02/2020

A fire that started in grassland and spread to a tire storage center in Felepillo, on Saturday morning, February 22  sent black clouds of acrid smoke across the Diciembre 24 area east of Panama City.

The firefighters who battled the blaze were part of a force from  93 fire stations on standby to reinforce carnival safety. As part of the “Guardian 2020” Carnival operation, some 3,401 firefighters  will be on duty

Reinforced with volunteer staff, fire stations will be on call 24 hours a day, mobilizing firefighters to strategic places of public concentration. and  maintaining emergency and rapid exit posts on the main roads in the country

The red shirts will also be operating on various beaches such as Veracruz, Malibu, Estero Rico, San Carlos, Costas de Bocas del Toro, La Angosta, La Guaira and Isla Grande.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/over-3400-firefightera-on-duty-for-celebrations

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Elected official flaunts ban on State vehicles for Carnival partying

Posted 22/02/2020

An elected representative of a  communal board was one of  43 drivers slapped with a fine for unauthorized use of State vehicles within hours of the start of Carnival.

Inspection staff of the Comptroller General of retained 24 state vehicles. breaching a decree dating back to 1996 which regulates the proper use, handling, control and registration of automobiles belonging to the State.

Among the irregularities found were drivers without a pass authorizing the use of the vehicle, expired license plates,.unauthorized passengers, no driving license or policy, expired license and the transport of alcoholic beverages.

A bulletin of the Comptroller reports the case of a vehicle from the communal board of Santa Rosa de Río Indio de Capira, detected at a  La Chorrera checkpoint driven by representative Juvencio Rodríguez, which carried three boxes of liquor on the back seat of a pickup.

Rodriguez received a $100 ticket , in addition to the retention of the vehicle.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/elected-official-flaunts-ban-on-state-vehicles-for-carnival-partying

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MEDIAWATCH: Women’s repression and “suggestive” clothing

Dancing under culecos

Posted 22/02/2020

These have been terrible months for women's rights in Panama.  Femicides have been increasing, as well as the brutality of the crimes that women have suffered as victims. We Panamanians have faced women dismembered, decapitated and cremated women. Much of these crimes remain in impunity. writes  Rigordo Noriega in La Prensa

As if that were not enough, sexual violence against women has been intense. We have had cases of tourists raped in groups, pregnant girls as a result of incest, adolescents and adult women of the Guna ethnic group being left defenseless before an alleged aggressor with political influences, and the physical aggression of women in public spaces by a degenerate apprentice who recorded his touching  of the intimate parts of the victims.

Non-discrimination, right to privacy and private life, freedom of expression, right to private property, equality before the law, the prohibition of limiting rights or freedoms recognized by law or other international conventions, are rights recognized by the American Convention of Human rights.

Meanwhile, symbolic aggression continues to grow. According to the commissioner-general director of the National Police (PN), women should be careful about who they choose as a partner. Likewise, the PN has assumed the role of preventing women with “suggestive clothing” from participating in culecos and other Carnival celebrations.

What is a suggestive dress? The task of defining such characterization will be left to the technical teams of the National Secretariat for Children, Adolescents and Family (Senniaf).

These officials will surely not rest until the “burial of the sardine” [symbolic end of Carnival] measuring necklines and analyzing the tight and disturbing pants, the translucence of a bra, the suggestive of a little t-shirt or the concupiscent of a beach skirt.

Would it not be better for the National Police to train its agents to detect and respond to cases of violence against women? Perhaps, the mere inability to protect the human rights and constitutional guarantees of Panamanians produces such a torment.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/mediawatch-womens-repression-and-suggestive-clothing

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Panama carnival toll with delayed fall out

Posted 23/02/2020

With at least 85,000 vehicles heading to different parts of the interior on Saturday, February 22 to celebrate  Carnival the Emergency Operations Center has been on round the clock watch and compiling reports of incidents.  

By Saturday  evening the entity listed  at least 3 371 traffic violations with 1.056  due to speeding, 216 for inadequate lights, 47 due to drunkenness, 46 for talking on cell phones and 126 vehicles were towed

The Maritime Authority of Panama reported that some 10,556 people were transferred to island areas, The  Panama Fire Department of Panama, attended 98 emergencies, 43 bush fires, three structural fires, two cars burned, a gas leak and five electrical damage and  18 car accidents while 26 people injured in various events were treated.

The  Pre-hospital Emergency Management (SUME) attended 629 cases with 88 traffic incidents topping the list.

Traffic death 
One person died and 11 were injured in an accident in Tolé, San Felix, Chiriquí 

 The Ministry of Health, this first day of Carnival reported 1,681 and the Social Security Fund has attended a total of 1,417 cases nationwide in 33 facilities. Of the cases attended, a total of 203 were reported for trauma, 19 are due to collisions.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama-carnival-toll-with-delayed-fall-out-1

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Panama lets Carnival hair down

Posted 24/02/2020

With police chief Miranda looking on at the start of his day-long cross country tour at least 25.000 people entered the grounds of the Union de Chitré Park on Monday  February 24, to celebrate Carnival, a scene replicated  across the Panamanian isthmus with thousands of police, emergency personnel overseeing the four-day celebrations.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/entertainment/panama-lets-carnival-hair-down

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Man on most-wanted list among 309 carnival arrests

Posted 24/02/2020

The National Police arrested over 300  sought-after criminals in the first three days of Carnival including one on the most-wanted list with a $5,000  price on his head and three men wanted for a double homicide on the first day of the pre-Lenten celebration reports the force director Jorge Miranda.

He said that 40 of the arrests have been in the coverage areas of the carnival and 269 outside the areas.

The security agencies are watching over  46  carnival sites across the country

Miranda also confirmed that there are already arrests related to homicides that occurred in the provinces of Coclé, Los Santos and Colón, during the carnival.

Police also carried out 86 raids, seized 29 firearms and recovered seven stolen vehicles were recovered.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/man-on-most-wanted-list-among-309-carnival-arrests

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19 Carnival deaths murders, drownings, traffic

Posted 26/02/2020

Carnival celebrations ended with a total of 19 dead, including 10 homicides, four drownings and five traffic deaths starting with an on-duty police officer involved in a head-on collision.

A minor under 16 years died in a river in Coco de La Chorrera, a five-year-old infant drowned in the Chagres de Chilibre river, and  59-year-old woman was drowned on Coronado Beach while trying to rescue her grandchildren and a man in Veraguas drowned.

Murders 
Glenford Small and Ashley Cedeño were murdered while sleeping in a  home rented for the weekend in Chitre.

The man, who had a criminal record, died at the residence, while Cedeño was declared brain dead at Gustavo Nelson Collado de Chitré hospital. Advertising

Ariel Alberto Aguilar Núñez,32, was shoy  at a barbecue in Playa Leona, district of La Chorrera.

Rolando Martínez Bernal was also killed in La Chorrera , in the La Lagartera sector

In Arraiján Eduardo Clemente Santos, he died in the emergency room of the Arraiján Polyclinic, after receiving three bullets  in the Los Parientes sector.

In Antón, Colombian David Garcia, 32, was shot in his luxury car, by three men who were  later grabbed by the National Police (PN) .

 Joel Caparosa, 30, was shot in sector 1 of Samaria, San Miguelito and died in the emergency room of the Santo Tomás hospital, the result of injuries.

In El Renacimiento de Chitré, Herrera, Eibar Isaac Rodríguez, 31, died  from stab  wounds in  the Nelson Collado hospital,

In Colón Diomedes Pittí Salazar 19 and 26-year-old Norma Estela Lezcano Fernández, died in  the Manuel Amador Guerrero de Colón hospital after being shot by a minor

While in Villa Caribe, outside Colón residents  found, the body of a man, with a white complexion, in a state of decomposition.

 A 25-year-old teacher Ilsia Séptimo, in the Gnäbe Buglé region and the police officer, Jorge Luis Rivas, 23, in the Azuero de Chepo, died in traffic accidents.

Wilfredo Calderón, 38, in Besikó, Ngäbe Buglé region and a woman in a fatal collision in Tortí de Chepo also died.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/19-carnival-deaths-murders-drownings-traffic