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Panama sprinter wins pre-Olympic event
Posted 12/07/2021
Panamanian Alonso Edward won the 200 meters event on Sunday, July 11, at the Sotteville International Meeting with a time of 20.18.
Edward, who is one of the Panamanian athletes qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, seeks to arrive in his best form at the competition that begins in 11 days in Japan.
It will be his third attempt to win an Olympic medal after London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016.
https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama-sprinter-wins-pre-olympic-event
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Panama invasion film premiere’s on Netflix
Posted 11/07/2021
The national production of Operation Just Cause –which tells some of the events that occurred on December 20, 1989 during the US invasion of Panama will premiere on Netflix on Wednesday, July 14, and will include new scenes.
The film, directed by Luis Pacheco and Luis Franco was released in October 2019 .
It features the performances of: Arian Abadi, Patricia de León, Robin Durán, Elmis Castillo, Anthony Anel, Leo Wiznitzer, Christopher Oberto, Rosa Lorenzo, among others.
https://www.newsroompanama.com/entertainment/panama-invasion-film-premieres-on-netflix
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Construction of new kids’ hospital after parking squabble moves on
Posted 11/07/2021
The construction of the new Hospital del Niño, on Avenida Balboa, is in the execution phase, cleaning the land and studying the soil and the objecting doctors from the Santo Tomás Hospital on the issue of parking consider the “case closed.”
The director of Infrastructure of the Ministry of Health (Minsa) , Carlos Candanedo, said that after conversations with doctors from, the Santo Tomas Hospital the work is underway as planned
In Candanedo's words, the project is following the corresponding administrative processes and complying with each of the regulations. The gardens of the Santo Tomás Hospital are considered historical heritage, but due to their current deterioration, they are part of the scope of the project for their restoration.
Juan Carmelo Wong and Jorge Puerta, leaders of the Association of Specialist Physicians of Santo Tomás, stressed that the discomfort arose when the work began without informing the personnel who used that land as a parking area.
The medical director of the Hospital del Niño, Paul Gallardo, said that in their case they had no problems, since before the work began they had located spaces on the coastal strip and other nearby areas, where they could park about 250 of their staff.
“We hope that the project continues without further setbacks. I think we passed the most complex and difficult stage, which was to tender and award the work. Now we must take it forward so that it is ready as quickly as possible for the good of our children" he said.
The project was awarded in February to Acciona Construcción, SA, and includes building and equipping the hospital, the parking building and the restructuring of the gardens. The amount assigned to this new project is $443 million.
The hospital will be on the former grounds of the United States embassy.
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Martinelli’s latest move to stall trial
Martinelli holds court with CD supporters
Posted 12/07/2021
Former President Ricardo Martinelli has appealed to the Supreme Court (CSJ) through constitutional guarantee protection that had initially been denied by the First Superior Court of Justice.
The Amparo, presented by the lawyer Carlos Carrillo, is against the decision of the guarantee judge Elkis Martínez not to agree to a request for prescription of the criminal action in the puncture case.
The former president must go to trial on July 21 for illegal wiretapping but alleges that he is in the process of recovering from surgery on his back.
David Cuevas, the complainant in this process on behalf of Rosendo Rivera, said that the appeal presented by Martinelli's lawyers does not suspend the trial.
Cuevas explained that Martinelli's lawyers will have to wait for the Court to resolve the appeal, but that it has no effect on the trial.
Carlos Herrera Moran, a lawyer for the doctor Mauro Zúñiga, agreed with Cuevas that the appeal does not stop the trial.
Morán considered that the judges of the trial Iveth Francois, Jennifer Saavedra, and Marisol Osorio should take note of the latest actions of Martinelli, after, despite being incapacitated, he held a political meeting with deputies of the Democratic Change (CD).
In this regard, he pointed out that in this activity it was clear that Martinelli does not have a physical impediment that prevents him from attending the trial on July 21.
He stressed that the authorities must prevent Martinelli from using delaying strategies so as not to face the trial so that a precautionary measure can be applied to ensure his appearance.
On June 22, the First Court rejected the protection of guarantees presented by the defense of Martinelli against a decision of the judge of guarantees Elkis Martínez, who rejected a request for the prescription of the legal action in the process that is being followed by the alleged commission of crimes against the inviolability of secrecy, the right to privacy and monitoring without judicial authorization.
Martinelli did not attend the trial set for that date, after presenting a medical certificate because he underwent surgery. Official doctors later determined that this surgery was elective.
https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/martinellis-latest-move-to-stall-trial
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OPINION: Objectionable actions
}ncapacitated" ex-pr rdidentarrives to ,cement new alliance
Posted 10/07/2021
The recent performances of Cambio Democrático (CD) are objectionable from every point of view. Its bench claims to be an opposition party, but it made a pact with the ruling party to elect the president of the state's most political body: the National Assembly. What kind of opposition is that? The majority of his deputies voted in his favor on the condition of making penal reforms that favor a particular politician, who, at the time, was the person with whom they met this week. In addition, they decided to send a letter to demand that the Foreign Ministry intervene in favor of the children of the politician of yore, but we frequently hear him demand that politicians take their hands off justice, which is precisely what he wants now. let them make their new fools useful, despite the fact that it conflicts with the Constitution. By last, they lie by arguing that the detained children of the subject are alternate deputies of Parlacen, since that regional body has already recognized that they have not been sworn into office. Today they want to be recognized as Central American parliamentarians, but the father had no qualms about despising that same position when it no longer served him. Well-off and opportunistic. That's what they are - LA PRENSA, Jul. 10
https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/opinion-objectionable-actions
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Panama economic recovery at 8.2% by 2022
Posted 09/07/2021
Panama’s economic recovery will lead the region with a growth of 8.2% in the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2022, according to the report of the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC), released Thursday, July 8, on the economic impact and of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2020, when the pandemic appeared, GDP closed at -17.9% and for 2021 the recovery is projected at 12%, according to ECLAC. However, it still does not reach the GDP growth levels of 3.7% in 2019, before the health crisis.
At the regional level, ECLAC raised its average growth estimate in 2021 to 5.2%, a figure that denotes a rebound from the deep contraction of 6.8% recorded in 2020 as a result of the adverse effects of measures adopted to combat the pandemic.
According to the United Nations, this expansion will not be enough to ensure sustained growth since the social impacts of the crisis and the structural problems in the region have worsened and will continue during the recovery stage.
The blow of the pandemic in the economies of Latin America has been catastrophic when compared to the rest of the world since 1.2 million deaths are registered due to the disease, which is equivalent to 32% of the world's total of deaths. Latin America only represents 8.4% of the world population, that is, the percentage of deaths is four times more than the percentage of the world population.
Vaccination
In Latin America, 13.6% of the population has been vaccinated, well below the percentages in other regions such as Canada and the United States, where 46.3% of the population is already vaccinated.Among the 31 Latin American countries, Panama has 13.6% of the population with complete vaccination, below other countries in the area such as Cuba, with 13.8%; Colombia, 14.6%; Mexico, 15.4%; Costa Rica, 15.9%; El Salvador, 17.9%
“The panorama is complex and if we do not make the changes, if we do not eliminate once and for all the culture of privilege expressed in evasion, in illicit funds and tax expenditures and excessive concentration of wealth, we will not be able to get out of this low growth trajectory ”, warned Alicia Barcena, executive secretary of ECLAC.
https://www.newsroompanama.com/business/panama-economic-recovery-at-82-by-2022
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OPINION: Perverse impressions
Posted 09/07/2021
The superior anti-corruption prosecutor Anilú Batista - an inheritance left by former attorney Eduardo Ulloa - completed her "exhaustive, complex and objective" investigation into the case of the Albrook modular hospital. It concluded, "that the facts of knowledge by the Public Ministry do not constitute a crime" and, therefore, decided to provisionally archive the case. In the second act of this work, the Comptroller, hours after having circulated the document, and at dawn, announced the payment of the hospital after the conclusions of the prosecutor. The case ended up archived, because, according to the prosecutor, everything is in complete order. Is there something new in the prosecutor's decision? Nothing. Let us remember that in Panama the most honest politicians in the world exercise, and that the perception of corruption in the government and its officials are unjustified conjectures, the product of a chronic collective madness of society or of the imagination of all of us. Perhaps we should applaud that we have working for the good of the country a prosecutor who no one deceives her and officials of unquestionable honesty, who left their native Macondo to come to erase those perverse impressions that we have of our leaders. - LA PRENSA, Jul. 9
https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/opinion-perverse-impressions
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Boxer and sprinter will carry Panama flag at Olympics
Posted 09/07/2021
The boxer Atheyna Bylon and sprinter Alonso Edward will be the flag bearers of Panama at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games on July 23, conforming to the new rules of the International Olympic Committee, that delegations now have to have two flag bearers at the opening of the event; A man and a woman.
The Games will take place from July 23 to August 8 and the Panamanian athletes classified are Alonso Edward, Nathalee Aranda, Gianna Woodruf and Jorge Castelblanco in athletics.
In swimming Emily Santos and Tyler Chistianson; Cristofer Jurado in cycling; in judo Kristine Jiménez and Miryam Roper; and in boxing Atheyna Bylon.
https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/boxer-and-sprinter-will-carry-panama-flag-at-olympics
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Judge hands over custody of Martinelli Brothers' helicopter
The helicopter was apprehended in March 2017 in .Mexico
Posted 09/07/2021
The third judge liquidator of criminal cases, Baloisa Marquínez, made Friday, July 9, the delivery to the company AirCraft Trust & Financing Corporation, custody, of the helicopter, which was seized from the brothers Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares within the process that is being followed for alleged money laundering through the Brazilian company Odebrecht.
Marquínez complied with a ruling of the Second Superior Court of Justice of March 31, 2020, which ordered to hand over custody of the aircraft, considering that its maintenance was too onerous for the State.
The Second Court decided to accept an incident involving an interested third party, which allows the company AirCraft Trust & Financing Corporation to manage the aircraft, but with the prohibition of its sale or of any form of transfer until the conclusion of the criminal proceeding that follows several citizens, accused of the alleged commission of the crime Against the Public Administration and Against the Economic Order, in the “Odebrecht” case.
https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/judge-hands-over-custody-of-martinelli-brothers-helicopter-1
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Dr. Newton G. Osborne
The July 1st Community Chat with Dr. Osborne was recorded. Below are the video of that presentation, contact information, and presentation materials.
Dr. Newton G. Osborne Contact Information
Dr. Osborne can be contacted via the Boquete Rotary Club. Click Here for the Rotary Club website, and then scroll down to send an email via their internal messaging system.
For additional information about Dr. Osborne, please visit https://rotariodeboquete.org/2021/01/18/september-2020-newsletter/
How To Share This Topic With Others
https://chiriqui.life/topic/16965-bcp-community-chat-making-a-difference-dr-newton-osborne-july-1
Presentation Materials
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“Incapacitated” ex-president Martinelli holds court
Posted 08/07/2021
Flanked by a group of admiring cheerleaders from the National Assembly former president Ricardo Martinelli who on June 30 presented a medical disability certificate to avoid trial for illegal wiretapping, forgot his health problems on July 7 to pose for pictures and plot strategy with deputies from his old party, Democratic Change (CD).
There were two items on the agenda: the fate of his sons Luis Enrique and Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares, imprisoned for a year in Guatemala, awaiting extradition to the United States and a political alliance between CD and Realzando Metas (RM), the new party created by Martinelli.
The first was resolved by pledging support for the Foreign Ministry to “take an interest in the fate” of the brothers facing trial for money laundering
The meeting was held at the Martinelli family clubhouse in Altos del Golf. He arrived in a Lexus van, from which he greeted and smiled at the journalists covering the activity
In the meeting with his former supporters, he was seen to speak effusively. There was laughter and a lot of camaraderie, reports La Prensa. It contrasted the diagnosis that his followers proclaimed after the neurosurgeon Waltter Kravcio performed a "major surgery" on his spine on June 20, the day before the new wiretapping trial which he did not attend.
At that time, his spokesman Luis Eduardo Camacho said that Martinelli would have a six-month recovery period and should subsequently receive therapy. But on Wednesday the ex-president sitting in an armchair and flanked by the deputies Yanibel Ábrego and Mayín Correa, as a father, urged the Government to take steps so that his children, “deputies of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) ”, face justice in Panama.
At the meeting, it was report3ed that on July 5 Correa sent a note to the president of the National Assembly, in which the asked to create an investigative commission to inquire about the legal situation of the brothers.
At the meeting, Martinelli also spoke about his health. "It is a painful, tedious process," he said, and added that "that situation is not desired even on his worst enemy."
Martinelli said he loved them "like his children." "In this room are the people who will govern in 2024," said Martinelli, and predicted that the next president of CD will be Yanibel Ábrego. Currently, the president of CD is Rómulo Roux.
Martinelli will have to face trial for the political espionage case on July 21, for which public defenders have been assigned.
https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/incapacitated-ex-president-martinelli-holds-court
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Assembly passes bill banning electronic cigarettes
Posted 08/07/2021
A bill banning electronic cigarettes, previously vetoed by President Cortizo. was approved on Thursday, July 8, in the third debate in the National Assembly.
Bill 178, which prohibits the use, import, and commercialization of electronic nicotine administration systems, electronic cigarettes, vaporizers, tobacco heaters, and other similar devices, with or without nicotine, in Panama.
The project was partially vetoed in May 2020 by President Cortizo. The veto was made on articles 1, 3 and 4, of project 178, and it was made clear that articles 1, 6, 8 and 9 in Cortizo's opinion, “in essence, meet the same objectives as certain administrative regulations issued by the Ministry of Health that are in force ”.
On Monday, July 5, under the presidency of Crispiano Adames -proponent of project 178-, the plenary session resumed the discussion of the vetoed document.
According to Adames, the objective of the initiative is to implement “a legal framework” that establishes the prohibition of the use of electronic nicotine administration systems, “promoting the development of policies that safeguard the right of the individual to the promotion, protection, conservation, restitution, and rehabilitation of health ”.
https://www.newsroompanama.com/health/assembly-passes-bill-banning-electronic-cigarettes
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Consciences for Sale
Posted 07/07/2021
The new president of the National Assembly, the day he was sworn in, gave a speech that, on paper, was eloquent, promising, and even hopeful. And, as he said, he wrote it himself. But his speech is just the surface of management that, in practice, is more of the same. The usual faces in the work committees say more about what will remain the same than about the promised changes, thanks to bedroom pacts to win the presidency in exchange for the committees. Everything arranged with the exchange, with the "what's up for me." It is not an Assembly that works for its constituents. It is about an Assembly of Phoenicians in which consciences and votes are for sale, and they dance to the sound that they make the coins that fill their pockets. Unfortunately, we will not see changes, rather, we are in the presence of another five-year period lost between greed and corruption. The Legislative Organ has found a new north: Its work committees, especially the Budget one, are bastions of blackmail, where its members, with few exceptions, do not stitch without a thread. That is the sad picture of the promised "change". - LA PRENSA Jul. 7
https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/consciences-for-sale-1
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24 Deputies want Martinelli sons detained returned to Panama
The Martinelli brothers in a Guatemala prison awaiting extradition to the USA to face money laundering charges
Posted 07/07/2021
24 Deputies from different legislative benches presented a note to the president of the National Assembly, asking the government of Laurentino Cortizo to initiate the steps to bring the Martinelli Linares brothers, detained in Guatemala, awaiting extradition to the US back to Panama. Mayín Correa, Democratic Change (CD) said that five deputies from the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party had signed their names; two from Molirena, 15 of CD, and the independent deputy Adán Bejerano. Among the signatory PRD members is Zulay Rodríguez.
"In the letter we ask that an investigative commission be formed, to find out the legal situation of the brothers, and bring them to Panama to be tried here," Correa explained to La Prensa.
In the note, the deputies refer to the fact that the Martinelli Linares brothers are deputies of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen). "They have the same prerogatives and immunity as us," said Correa, However, the regional body itself has recognized that, although they were elected in the May 2019 elections, they have never been sworn in and have never held office.
The signing of this letter came shortly after a group of CD deputies, met with the former president and founder of the group, Ricardo Martinelli.
https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/24-deputies-want-martinelli-sons-detained-returned-to-panama-1
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Panama-flagged ship released from Suez Canal
Posted 07/07/2021
AFP, CAIRO - The Panama-flagged container ship “Ever Given”, which blocked the Suez Canal for six days and was immobilized in total for more than three months, weighed anchor on Wednesday, July 7, as expected after a compensation agreement with the Egyptian authorities on behalf of its Japanese owner signed on the same day.
The gigantic vessel, with a capacity of 200,000 tons, completely cut off the passage in the canal on March 23, an incident that seriously affected world maritime trade and caused losses to Egypt.
Anchored in the Great Bitter Lake, in the middle of the Suez Canal, since the resumption of maritime traffic on March 29, the "Ever Given" began moving with its cargo north towards the Mediterranean shortly after 11:30 am local time (09:30 GMT), confirmed an AFP journalist.
The moment it was stranded, images of the ship went viral on social networks and the press around the world.
More than three months after the end of the incident, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced on Sunday a ompensation agreement with the Japanese shipowner, Shoei Kisen Kaisha, was signed Wednesday and the terms of which remained confidential.
SCA's lawyer, Khaled Abu Bakr, insisted in a speech shortly before the signing on the "confidentiality" of the agreement. "I confirm that we have preserved all the rights of the authority," he said.
SCA President Oussama Rabie said in a television interview on Sunday that Egypt would receive, in addition to financial compensation, a 75-ton capacity tug from the owner of the “Ever Given”.
Cairo initially claimed $6 million before revising the figure down to $550 million.
https://www.newsroompanama.com/business/panama-flagged-ship-released-from-suez-canal
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OPINION: Dirty money in judiciary, politics
Posted 06/07/2021
It is no secret to anyone that drug trafficking has an important presence in Panama, as a result of the trafficking itself and the related activities involved, such as the participation of locally organized groups that are dedicated to selling, transporting, and guarding drugs. In recent months, the security forces of Panama - with the intercession of international intelligence agencies - have dealt certain blows to these organizations, their operations, and their members. These actions go to the throat of the businesses of common criminals, but it is not a secret either that these groups have infiltrated the Judicial Branch, including the Legislative, according to a multiplicity of intelligence sources, local and foreign, who have intimately expressed their concern about the growing penetration of dirty money in local politics and banking. The worrying thing is that they have gone very far, acceding to a State body that makes - or does not make - laws, which facilitates and even promotes these activities that leave millions, used, among other things, to weaken our institutions. It is necessary to reach higher to end a scourge that already affects, even, national security. LA PRENSA, Jul. 6.
https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/opinion-dirty-money-in-judiciary-politics
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Martinelli Bros mark year in jail
Posted 06/07/2021
On Tuesday, July 6 the two sons of former president Ricardo Martinelli marked one year behind bars in Guatemala.
Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares are detained in the Mariscal Zavala military prison, following a request for their capture and extradition to the United States to face money laundering charges.
On July 6, 2020, the brothers were surprised at La Aurora airport, as they were about to board a plane owned by the Martinelli family, on a supposed “humanitarian” flight. They carried four cell phones, cash, and diplomatic folders that accredited them as members of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen), although later the body itself recognized) they had never been sworn in and had never held office. They told the police that they were parliamentarians and that they had Italian-Panamanian nationality.
Guatemala said that both had entered the country by land, with ordinary passports, on June 30 of that year, and immediately "surveillance and monitoring " was activated. The formal arrest request had arrived from the US three days earlier. The arrest request came from the s country in which both had lived for the last five years, since they voluntarily left Panama, as several judicial investigations against them progressed, for the bribes of Odebrecht and Blue Apple.
Luis Enrique had left Panama on October 16, 2015. The date on which Ricardo Alberto left (who was also mentioned in the Buko Millonario case) is unknown.
It is not known what they were doing in the United States, but on November 20, 2018, they were detained at their mansion in Coral Gables, Miami, by immigration agents who then reported that, although they had entered the United States legally, they no longer had a valid visa. They spent 15 days in Krome, a migrant shelter located in the Everglades, from which they left after a judge from that jurisdiction granted them each with a bail of $1 million.
Near the mansion in Coral Gables, former President Martinelli l had been captured on June 12, 2017, by federal marshals, at the request of Panama’s wiretap Supreme Court), which then had the jurisdiction to prosecute him in the wiretap case. Martinelli was detained for 364 days before being handed over to Panama.
Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique have had a much more rugged stay in Guatemala than their father in the US reports La Prensa: last Thursday, the Guatemala Ministry of the Interior reported that it had reinforced security in Mariscal Zavala and carried out a search, after receiving an alert "about the possible escape attempt" of the Martinelli Linares, by United States intelligence units. At the military base, they found cell phones, chargers, antennas, sharp-pointed weapons, beers, bottles of liquor... Also, 9 minors, who had no reason to be there. For these events, the director of the prison was denounced.
The brothers' stay at Mariscal Zavala has been colorful. The digital site Relato published a note last February, under the suggestive title "Of sex, liquor and privileges, this is the life of the Martinelli in the Guatemalan prison," which leaves little room for interpretation. In the prison, both would be under the protection of Gustavo Alejos, private secretary in the presidency of Álvaro Colom. (Last week, Alejos and Colom were included in the US State Department List of characters linked to acts of corruption.
“Because they are foreigners, they do not have political enemies or those of the country's criminal structures, so their stay in a prison here does not mean that much risk and they could feel safe. The second important aspect is the vulnerability of the national prison system, where it is common to find underpaid guards who accept a bribe in exchange for letting in certain food, cell phones or anything that makes their stay in prison less pressing, "said Rony Ríos of the Guatemalan newspaper El Periódico.
The year they have spent in prison has been for the appeals filed to prevent extradition. The case of Ricardo Alberto is settled in the Third Court of Criminal Sentencing, Drug Trafficking and Environmental Crimes, and that of Luis Enrique in the Fifth Court.
Denis Cuesy is the lawyer and the strategy for each one has been similar: to challenge the judges on the grounds that they have no competence to settle their legal matters, given their alleged status as alternate deputies of Parlacen.
The Court of Appeals rejected the challenges, on more than one occasion. In June, Luis Enrique presented three more appeals against decisions adopted by the Fifth Court, which on May 25 ordered to process the delivery to the United States. Shortly before, he had been denied a request to transfer to a hospital, where he intended to stay, alleging heart problems. The National Institute of Forensic Sciences of Guatemala indicated that his state of health was stable and did not merit being admitted to a clinic.
Unlike his brother, Luis Enrique already went to a hearing to formally know the reasons why he is being claimed in the United States. The appointment was on March 5, although a month earlier, the Eastern District Court of New York released the accusation, which until then had been sealed. the former president's children are accused of three charges: one, for allegedly conspiring to launder money, and two, for hiding information on money laundering. The indictment is based on events allegedly committed between August 2009 and September 2015, which coincides with his father's entire presidential term.
Luis Enrique faces two additional charges, for the alleged use of money obtained through money laundering.
Just for the crime of conspiracy to launder, the penalty would be up to 20 years in prison. For the crime of hiding information, the maximum penalty is also 20 years in prison. The indictment warns that the assets linked to the charges (bank accounts, real estate) will be confiscated if the two defendants are convicted. Nothing is mentioned regarding the family plane but it has already been guarded on a runway in La Aurora, at the request of the United States Department of Commerce, for alleged export violations.
Although the FBI maintains that the two sons of the former president participated as "intermediaries" in the receipt and payment of bribes of $28 million, "under the direction of Odebrecht," these allegations are not in the indictment disclosed now.
It is difficult to know when the extradition will be, although the surrender appears imminent, given that Guatemala usually accepts requests from the United State says La Prensa.
"I don't know of any case where the delivery was denied," said Ríos, of El Periódico.
It has even done so when those required have been important figures, such as former Guatemalan president Alonso Portillo, extradited in 2013.
https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/martinelli-bros-mark-year-in-jail
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Government corruption worse than virus
President Cortizo addresses the National Assembly
Posted 05/07/2021
The “Government” intends to lull the population with more of its official propaganda, but it does not realize that in these two years it cannot hide that the health system (CSS and Minsa) with which it faces the pandemic is two-headed and inefficient.
They invented the modular hospital to do business and about this nothing is clear.
Unemployment is around 20% and young people and women are the most affected, but the Government does not even have a medium-term plan.
Justice continues to be selective, and for that it has an interim Prosecutor's Office and so far nothing has happened with the scandals of the shelters, food bags, and clandestine vaccination.
They do not say that they have indebted the country as never before in the midst of a pandemic but they see it as economic achievement.
The solidarity bonus of 120 dollars continues to be the beggar’s mite but the members of the PRD and Molirena in the Government receive 100% of their salary. Why don't they show it off as an achievement?
The two years are to mourn and the protesters on May 5 already said it on July 1: "The Little Government and corruption is worse than the virus." - MI DIARIO, Jul. 5
https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/government-corruption-worse-than-virus
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The “untouchables “ proliferate
Gloriela Del Rio
Posted 05/07/2021
The director of the Lotería Nacional de Beneficencia (LNB), Gloriela Del Río, begins to behave like the owner of a farm with regard to information about the administration of the institution under her charge. Now, her Office of Legal Counsel ensures that the minutes of the LNB board of directors are confidential. What secret matters can an institution whose objective is precisely charity deal with? Such a claim is absurd or, as we all suspect, it is the easiest way to hide the negotiations that have been denounced weeks ago. Or is it that perhaps things that should be secret are discussed there, such as the identity of the winners of the present and future prize numbers? It seems that every day citizens lose ground in terms of access to public information, while officials gain - by leaps and bounds - greater discretion to declare opacity by law in matters that must be transparent to citizens. It is inexplicable that Gloriela Del Río still remains at the head of the LNB with the scandals that it leads to. She is another of the "untouchables" of a government that, apparently, would care little if the draws are also held at the headquarters of the Security Council and are declared confidential. – LA PRENSA, Jul. 5.
https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/the-untouchables-proliferate
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Chicken theft - fast justice, rob $50 million 13-yr delay
Renard the Fox would have enjoyed the stalling tactics
Posted 04/07/2021
It took thirteen years for a court to open a criminal case against a former deputy and one of his collaborators for a case of alleged embezzlement to the detriment of an institution that has already disappeared: the Social Investment Fund (FIS), which, with a new name (Programa National Aid-PAN), was later robbed by officials whose cases have not yet been resolved.
What these processes tell us is that justice in Panama, in relation to crimes related to the nation's heritage, is made for impunity to reign. The suspect of stealing a chicken is more likely to be convicted than a politician who confesses - publicly and in writing - to have stolen $50 million from state work. Our legislation only serves to protect the crime and relieve the guilty of suspicion. It is also, an intricate minefield, made so that cases are lost due to technicalities, without getting to the bottom of the facts. Panama urgently needs to establish more simplified processes and provide justice with legal and professional tools with high ethical and academic standards, strengthen it with economic resources and completely renew it. That, or we condemn ourselves to live without law or order. - LA PRENSA. Jul 4.
https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/chicken-theft-fast-justice-rob-50-million-13-yr-delay
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Ex-deputy facing embezzlement trial after 13 years
Former deputy Francisco Ameglio, on trial for alleged embezzlement
Posted 04/07/2021
After a process that has lasted for at least 13 years, the Third Criminal Settlement Court opened a criminal case against former deputy Francisco Toto Ameglio and his former collaborator Guadalupe Alvarado, for alleged embezzlement to the detriment of the defunct Social Investment Fund (FIS).
The court also granted a provisional dismissal to another 11 people who were investigated by the Second Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, but against whom it found no evidence to support the opening of a lawsuit against them since they were suppliers to whom some had been turned over. checks.
The investigation began in 2008, as a result of an audit by the Comptroller's Office on the delivery to the Monastery of the Visitation of Santa María de Panamá of $380,000 funds from the FIS. The audit revealed the existence of irregularities in the execution of seven projects in which the FIS delivered checks that were received by Guadalupe Alvarado.
According to the report, "there was no prudence in the management of the funds assigned to carry out the works."
The document also specifies that Ameglio's assistant was the one who administered the funds.
It was determined that there are several irregularities in relation to the documentation that supports the execution of seven community projects for which the FIS turned 7 checks, which were received by subordinates of Ameglio, and then deposited in accounts of the National Bank in the name of the Monastery of the Visitation of Santa María de Panamá.
The report highlights that Guadalupe Alvarado's connection with the events arises from the fact that as the person in charge of the administration and management of the funds granted to the religious congregation for the projects, he did not present any documentation to the FIS that would support the disbursement of each check.
The ruling specifies that Ameglio, in the exercise of the post of deputy, allegedly used the Monastery of the Visitation of Santa María de Panamá as an intermediary with the FIS, in order to obtain funds from the institution through non-refundable financial support contracts. for the communities of its 8-10 circuit, but there is no evidence that these funds have been properly used for the purposes established in the contractual clauses.
To reach the decision, the court valued the statements of at least five residents of the 8-10 circuit, who claimed to have received financial aid, without any study being involved to justify the support offered to carry out political activities in that circuit. They also took the statements of the nuns of the convent, who revealed that the person in charge of managing the funds and administering the project was Guadalupe Alvarado.
More than half of the cases investigated by the Public Ministry (MP) in recent years, related to alleged misappropriation of public funds through the FIS and the defunct National Aid Program (PAN), have had little progress in the courts. A recent report revealed that of 14 cases for alleged irregularities in the PAN (now the Directorate of Social Assistance) that have been sent to the courts, only one has been convicted, while the rest of the cases are bogged down by appeals.
https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/ex-deputy-facing-embezzlement-trial-after-13-years
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Panama-flagged ship that blocked Suez Canal will sail Wednesday
Posted 04/07/2021
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced Sunday, July 4 an agreement to release next Wednesday Panama flagged giant container ship Ever Given, held back since it blocked the crucial seaway for international trade at the end of March.
The agreement was reached with the owner of the vessel, according to a statement from the SCA. On Wednesday a ceremony will be held to celebrate "the signing of the agreement" and the "departure of the ship", held in the Great Bitter Lake by the Egyptian authorities, the text says.
With a capacity of more than 200,000 tons, the Ever Given was stranded on March 23 and blocked circulation in the canal, through which about 10% of world maritime trade passes.
The blockade lasted six days. According to the SCA, Egypt lost $12 to $15 million each day the channel was closed.
At the end of June, the Egyptian authority announced an "initial" compensation agreement between Egypt and the owner of the Ever Given, after intense negotiations in which the ship's insurer participated.
The main point of contention between Egypt and the Japanese company Shoei Kisen, which owns the ship, lay in the amount of compensation.
Initially, Cairo claimed $916 million but in the end, it lowered the sum to $550 million. In total, 422 vessels, carrying 26 million tons of goods, were blocked in March due to the incident.
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OPINION: Useful fools
Posted 03/07/2021
One of the campaign promises of today's President Cortizo was to fulfill the Transparency Challenge 2019, consisting of evaluating indicators, such as anti-corruption laws, transparency, and accountability, public purchases, justice, access to information and governments, and open data. The results of the evaluation, prepared by the Foundation for the Development of Citizen Freedom, is disappointing: not only are the advances extremely poor, but some have even regressed. Our democracy deteriorates with each administration because, deep down, the absence of accountability and transparency policies promote government opacity. Consequently, democracy runs out of strength; Citizens lose control of our destiny as a nation and we are reduced to the sum of votes necessary for a person or party to come to power ... and then ignore us until the next elections. As useful fools, that's where we end. And this government has given us clear, unequivocal and unquestionable signs that we are only good at giving them votes. We gave up our right to claim and today we only receive the contempt of our rulers. LA PRENSA, Jul. 3.
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Design of tunnel under canal will cost $9.8 million
Posted 03/07/2021
If the General Directorate of Public Procurement (DGCP) endorses the report of the evaluation commission, the cost of the design and basic details of the tunnel on line 3 of the Metro, which will be built below the Panama Canal will cost $9.8 million.
The Tunnel of the Americas Consortium made up of the companies Técnica y Proyectos, SA (Typsa) and Louis Berger LAC, obtained the best rating within the review of the 4 proposals received by the Panama Metro.
The group obtained a rating of 930 points, out of a total of 1,000, in addition to presenting the cheapest offer. The group's offer is $3.2 million below the estimated price by the Metro.
Originally, the tunnel was not part of the design of Line 3 that will be built by the Korean consortium HPH Joint Venture, made up of the companies Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. and Posco Engineering Construction, at a cost of $2.844 billion.
Next October, the placement of the piles that will support the structure of the viaduct through which the monorail will pass must begin.
It is estimated that line 3 will benefit more than 500,00 residents of Panama Oeste.
By opting for the tunnel, Laurentino Cortizo's administration discarded the original design that contemplated the passage of the monorail through the central lanes of the fourth bridge, a project that has remained in limbo because it has no assigned budget, despite the fact that it was awarded in 2018 reports La Prensa.
In the speech presented to the National Assembly last Thursday, President Cortizo indicated that the construction of the tunnel was part of the special projects that will be carried out over the next few years
Metro estimates indicate that the construction of the underground section, which will extend for more than five kilometers, would have an estimated cost of $360 million. The mass transit company decided to bid separately for the design and construction of the tunnel to obtain better offers.
The diameter of the tunnel will be 13 meters and it will have a pumping and drainage station, and it will be divided in half to simulate the effect that there are two tunnels within the same structure.
According to the data provided by the Metro to the companies that competed to design the tunnel, the work will have a maximum depth of 65 meters.
To understand the magnitude of the project, the greatest depth reached by the tunnel on line 1 was 35 meters.
Construction of the underground section is expected to take about 64 months (5 years and 3 months). To this time must be added the months it will take for the Metro to put out to tender the design and construction of the underground section. At the moment, the most encouraging estimate is that there is a difference of more than 24 months between the construction of the tunnel and the works on line 3, which has been carried out by HPH Joint Venture since February.
https://www.newsroompanama.com/business/design-of-tunnel-under-canal-will-cost-98-million
Tourism in Panama (and Central America)
in Outdoor Activities (Tourism, Recreation, Sightseeing, Nature Hikes, etc.)
Posted
https://www.newsroompanama.com/business/rise-in-panama-visitors-stopped-in-april