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In search of mayoralty accountability

Posted 23/02/2022

THE MAYOR OF THE CAPITAL CITY HAS EARNED IT. The initiative to revoke his mandate came to him because his management could be described as a complete disaster. And, although there would only be four months to gather the necessary signatures to apply the measure against him, if they are not achieved, it would serve as a kind of thermometer for the mayor to correct courses, which would include approaches with the inhabitants of the district, real consultations, transparency in its management and, above all, be empathic with the needs of its constituents. Contrary to what his administration should be, the mayor has been arrogant, has made serious errors of judgment, because he believes he has the last word in everything, and, in some cases, has even mocked the electorate by promoting citizen consultations that leave much to be desired. The initiative to revoke his mandate puts citizens to the test, who will now have to decide if he deserves to continue in office. These are the opportunities that voters have to assert their vote: if they do not keep their promises, if they are not taken seriously, if they are not consulted, then they have the ideal means to reconsider their decision. It is time to make the vote count. – LA PRENSA,  Feb. 23.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/in-search-of-mayoralty-accountability-1

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Man charged with rape of 8-year-old

Posted 24/02/2022

A man charged with the alleged rape of a minor under 8 years of age who became pregnant, is in provisional detention said the Public Ministry (MP) on Wednesday, February 23, following a TVN Noticias report – of the care that the minor has received from the Santo Tomás Hospital and the Children's Hospital.

The MP reported that on December 29, 2021, a guarantees hearing was held for the man, for the alleged commission of the crime of aggravated rape.

In the statement, the MP pointed out that it is necessary to guarantee the comprehensive protection of the minor – of the Guna ethnic group – “avoiding the victimization generated by these publicized facts.”

In a statement, the National Secretariat for Children, Adolescents and Family (Senniaf) reported that since December 27, 2021, it has provided, through a measure of protection and deprivation of parental care issued by the Second Court for Children and Adolescents, the approach regarding the protection of the victim, "proceeding immediately by the technical staff of the Protection Directorate, to remove her from the family unit where the aggressor was."

The Directorate of Protection, through its Department against Abuse and Violence, provided psychological assistance to both the girl and her relatives, who are also affected by the aggression committed within their own home by a relative

Safe abortion
The Panamanian Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology said: “The ignorance of the population, judicial authorities, health professionals and other related sectors, about the options that exist for the prevention of pregnancies and the legal aspects that would give access to safe abortion, being important the cases in which these pregnancies are the result of acts of sexual violence, is an obstacle in the early care of Panamanian girls, adolescents and women, which must be solved”.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/man-charged-with-rape-of-8-year-old

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8-year-old to become Panama’s youngest mother

Posted 23/02/2022

An 8-year-old girl with 25 weeks of gestation has been in the maternity wing of the Santo Tomás Hospital (HST) for approximately a week reports TVN. Her pregnancy was revealed when she was taken to a Health Clinic for a check-up.

The case, the first to be detected in Panama, fell like a " bomb” for personnel of the HST and the Dr. José Renán Esquivel Children's Hospital who were activated to provide the girl with all the physical and emotional support she needs during and after the pregnancy process.

The national coordinator of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Program of the Ministry of Health (Minsa), Geneva González, said that it is the first time that such an early pregnancy is known.

“ An 8-year-old girl means that she has precocious puberty. She had her precocious puberty and perhaps that is why they did not even realize that she was pregnant , "said González.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/8-year-old-to-become-panamas-youngest-mother

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Call to revoke the mandate of Panama Mayor

Posted 23/02/2022

A group of people from the capital district submitted a request on Tuesday, to the Electoral Court to revoke the mandate of Mayor José Luis Fábrega, based on a series of situations such as non-compliance with his work plan presented in the campaign, as well as the lack of transparency in the processes during his two and a half years in office.

The document was presented by the independent lawyer Roberto Ruiz Díaz, says that promises have not been complied with and projects that are not a municipal priority have been presented, highlighting that  “necessary accountability and transparency have not been complied with”.

In the document, they say that, in compliance with the law that the revocation cannot be requested during the first and last year of the mandate, the request is presented so that the citizens of the capital commune can decide whether or not they want to revoke Fabrega's mandate.

The recall will require 160,000 signatures in four months.

Among the projects that have raised  citizen opposition  are the now-abandoned $120 million beach renewal and the $40 million Seafood Market against which there will be a demonstration on the Cinta Costera on Thursday.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/call-to-revoke-the-mandate-of-panama-mayor

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All assets of jailed ex-minister seized

Posted 23/02/2022

In addition to the six-year jail term for the former head of the Ministry of Social Development Guillermo Ferrufino and his wife Milena Vallarino de Ferrufino for unjustified enrichment imposed by The Third Liquidator Court of Criminal Cases, Judge Baloisa Marquínez ordered the confiscation of all farms, bank accounts, and credit cards and imposed the accessory penalty of the impediment to the exercise of public functions for a term of five years, once the main sentence has been served.

The ruling details that an authorship report prepared by the Comptroller General of the Republic revealed that during his tenure at Mides Ferrufino obtained unjustified enrichment in the amount of $2,288,000.

In addition, to hide their increased wealth Ferrufino and his wife put some of their properties in the name of their mother-in-law Amnelis Morales Pastorizo, including a Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle and two farms located in Mangaja Vieja in Boquete, Chiriquí province. 

The ruling adds that although during the trial held on December 28, the defendants' lawyers asked to exclude these properties from the process, during an interview collected by several media outlets, the former official admitted having put these properties in the name of his mother-in-law., It specifies that by 2014, when he left the position of minister, Ferrufino had funds in several bank accounts that reached the figure of $694,562, which represented twice what he earned as minister.

Another relevant aspect of the ruling is the fact that Milena Vallarino de Ferrufino collaborated and benefited from all these illegal acquisitions to perpetrate the illicit act and, in addition, appeared in several bank accounts with her husband.

It adds that Milena Vallarino de Ferrufino, in addition to having taken advantage of these acts, provided her mother's name to make some of the transactions.

In turn, it states that some properties purchased by Ferrufino were paid for by the companies Inversiones Lymber SA, Helis Craft Trading Corp, and Heliflight Panamá SA and that these companies were owned by Fotis Lymberopolus, who obtained contracts to provide air service to Mides during the management of Ferrufino.

Properties
The investigation began in March 2015 as a result of an audit report of the Comptroller's Office related to the increase in Ferrufino's assets.

According to the report, between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2014, the then minister used economic resources in the amount of $3,415,000. However, his income from known sources only reached the sum of $1,126,000, leaving an unexplained balance of $2,288,000.

Among the properties acquired by Ferrufino are a farm in El Lirio de La Chorrera, valued at $430,000, and another located in the Antón district with a value of $288,000 in the name of the Hermanos Hefe Foundation.

Other farms that the investigation attributes to the former minister are one located in Nueva Gorgona, Chame district, with a value of $500,000, and two farms in Maga Vieja, Boquete, Chiriquí Province, one with a value of $25,000 and another of $100,000.

In addition, it formalized a purchase of shares for $657,999 from the company Villa Icaria SA, owner of a farm in Albrook, where the former minister resides.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/all-assets-of-jailed-ex-minister-seized

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Gasoline prices continue upward

Posted 23/02/2022

The price of 95 octane gasoline will rise two cents to $1.05 per liter on Friday, February 26.

91 octane gasoline will increase two cents to $1.03 cents per liter.

Low sulfur diesel will increase its price by two cents, 97 cents per liter.

The prices will be valid until Friday, March 11.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/gasoline-prices-continue-upward-1

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Public protest called against new Seafood market

The Seafood Market underwent a $4 million renovation during the previous administration.

Posted 22/02/2022

A citizen’s organization has called for a public protest on  Thursday, February 24 on the Cinta Costera in opposision  to  Mayor  José Luis Fábrega’s plan to build a new Seafood Market.

The Urban Citizen Network of Panama (Redcupa)  describes the opening of bids for the $43 million project as a new disappointment.

Redcupa - an organization made up of several communities in the district of Panama - stated that there are several reasons for rejecting the project, whose funds will come from the decentralization budget, despite the fact that the capital's municipality will receive $30 million less than what was budgeted, due to a drop in Income Tax collection.

The organization pointed out that using the decentralization funds, which correspond to the entire district of Panama —a population of 1.25 million—, without a broad consultation in which all the districts participate, is a mistake.

It indicated that justifying a project through a citizen consultation limited to the citizens of the township of Calidonia —of 22,000 inhabitants or 1.8% of the total population of the city— is nonsense that demonstrates the little respect that is shown to the mechanism. of collective participation.

The architect and president of Redcupa, Xochilth Troncoso, indicated that for the organization the approval of $40 million by the vote of 22 firms that attended the consultation, that is, 0.1% of the population of Calidonia, regardless of whether they were municipal employees or there were repeated signatures, it is disrespectful.

For Troncoso, the mayor's administration cannot be disconnected from reality by promoting a project that does not represent a priority or a need for the city.

Given these reasons, the Redcupa calls for the February 24 protest at the Mirador del Pacífico, in the coastal strip

Redcupa invites Mayor Fábrega to join in working, together with other government authorities, to solve specific and overwhelming problems that afflict the populations in the townships of the district of Panama, such as the collection of waste and organic waste from efficiently and effectively, lack of lighting in public spaces, as well as lack of sidewalks, dumpsters, among others.

The Beach Project
The plan to build a new market came about after strong public rejection of Mayor Fábrega's flagship project: the recovery of public spaces and beaches in Calidonia and Bella Vista, valued at $120 million.

In the plan that Fábrega presented in his election campaign, there is no mention of the market as a key project. 

Fábrega had no obstacles in approving his initiative in the Council. Of the 26 representatives, 24 voted in favor of the controversial market and has been oblivious to criticism against the market that he intends to build on the coastal strip and which would occupy some 8,000 square meters that today are public recreation areas. He assured that time will prove his management right

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/public-protest-called-against-new-seafood-market

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Martinelli-era Minister and wife jailed six years

Martinelli and Ferrufino in happier times

Posted 22/02/2022

Panama’s former Minister of Social Development,   Guillermo Ferrufino, and his wife Milena Vallarino de Ferrufino were sentenced to six years in prison for the crime of unjustified enrichment reported the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday, February 22. The sentence was issued by the Third Liquidator Court for Criminal Cases.

According to the prosecution, the couple could not justify assets that reach $2,288,000.

In the trial, held last December, the prosecution presented evidence compiled in the investigation initiated as a result of an audit report from 2014, revealing that Ferrufino was unable to justify certain assets acquired during his tenure as minister in the Ricardo Martinelli era (2009-2014).

The audit of the Comptroller's Office revealed that in his five years of management Ferrufino obtained income for the sum of $1,126, 884, but his expenses, goods acquired and bank accounts reached the sum of $3,415,180. It showed that he could not justify an amount of $2,288 000.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/martinelli-era-minister-and-wife-jailed-six-years-for-unjustified-enrichment

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Canadian owned Panama mine boosts sales 138%

Posted 21/02/2022

Minera Panama a subsidiary of Canadian First Quantum, generated sales of $3.16 billion dollars during 2021, an increase of 138% compared to 2020.

Despite the 8% drop in production during the fourth quarter of last year due to maintenance work at the power plant, the results report indicates that Cobre Panamá was consolidated as the most profitable project of the Canadian mining company, which in January, accepted the economic proposal of the Panamanian Government to increase royalties received by the State.

With this change, the company agrees to pay at least $375 million in the event that the price of copper collapses in international markets. Additional royalties go from 2% on gross sales to a 12% or 16% contribution to the State on gross profits.

In addition to the royalty adjustment currently paid by the Canadian mining company, the new economic scheme includes the payment of 25% income tax (ISR), which would be similar to what companies pay in countries like Chile, the world's largest copper producer.

In its financial statements, First Quantum indicated that they are in the process of finalizing the details of a new agreement with the government. “The parties continue to finalize the details behind these principles, including the proper mechanics that would achieve this outcome, the necessary protections for the business for falling copper price and production scenarios and to ensure that the new contract and legislation are durable. and sustainable," the company said.

The Minister of Commerce and Industries (MICI), Ramón Martínez, said that the drafting process of the new contract should conclude at the end of this month, and has taken longer than projected, in order to clearly detail the scope of the points negotiated with the mining company.

In 2021, the State received close to $48 million in royalties for the extraction of copper, gold, and silver from the mountains of Donoso of Colón.

60% of the material extracted from Donoso has ended up in China, while the remaining 40% has been distributed to refineries in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, India, Spain, and Germany.

Projections                        
In a phone call with Wall Street analysts, Tristan Pascall, who will take over as CEO of First Quantum in the coming months, said that they expect to reach 90 million tons of production this year, getting closer to the goal of 100 million tons projected for 2023. The company is executing a project to expand the mine with an investment of $450 million dollars, funds that will allow the exploitation of the Colina pit, the modification of the Punta Rincón port, and the expansion of other structures within the project.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/canadian-owned-panama-mine-boosts-sales-138

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Rubén Blades posits a transitional government  in 2024

MULTIPLE Grammy Awards winner Ruben Blades may run for president.

Posted 21/02/2022

The singer-songwriter Rubén Blades who wants independent presidential candidates to unite, on Sunday on TVN raised the possibility of closing the National Assembly and installing a transitional government. He suggested that the government that wins the elections of 2024 be one of transition for three years to make the structural changes that, in his opinion, the country requires.

“What you must have are clear arguments, you tell the people, if you win those arguments you present it to the country through a referendum. If the people accept it then you make them into bills and if the Assembly refuses to change the norms that the people themselves have said, then the president has the ability to close the Assembly”, he explained.

In his opinion, to dismantle the “corrupt and patronage State” that exists in Panama, it is necessary to reform the codes and laws, which facilitate or allow impunity for these acts.

“We have to review all the codes. To create a new structure and administrative paradigm, I would eliminate the ministries and create another structure because someone needs to drive the bus, but once you dry up the areas that feed corruption, you create the possibility of founding an efficient system not based on clientelism”, he stressed.

The economist Felippe Argote argued that in order to close the Assembly, it is necessary to comply with the processes that allow democratic continuity. He added that this election scheme where a deputy from one party comes out with 4,000 votes while an independent who got 9,000 votes is left out cannot continue.

For Blades, the best scheme to avoid corruption is to educate the people, who are the ones who vote for politicians. “As long as we don't have that clear offer that really allows people to feel that things will go better without corruption, we will be in the same problem because when [corruption] is allowed and encouraged and people feel that justice doesn't work, they simply take another route, I think that is one of the things that is encouraging this process of corruption in Panama: there are no consequences and there is impunity”, he argued.

The musician, who in recent weeks has been talking about the country's political reality on his website "La Esquina de Rubén Blades", asked himself this Sunday what will happen in 2024? “If we are going to have more of the same because I do not think that this situation (client relations) can continue indefinitely. Laurentino Cortizo and his party, Cambio Democrático and Panameñismo are part of the system, that is why the system must be changed”.

In the debate that arose about a parallel or original constituent assembly, the singer pointed out that the first thing is to present the arguments to the country, since once presented it can be determined if it is mature enough to practice an original or constituent assembly.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/ruben-blades-posits-a-transitional-government-in-2024

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83.6 % of Panamanians have received Covid vaccine

Posted 20/02/2022

A total of 7,499,942 doses of vaccines against Covid-19 have been applied in Panama, according to the report of the Expanded Program of Immunization of the Ministry of Health (Minsa).

Of the total figure, 3,319307 correspond to first doses and 2 ,916049 to second doses. In addition, 1,254,108 booster doses have been placed in the country.

Meanwhile, the coverage of the target population is 83.6% with first doses and 73.5% with second doses.

While 47.3% of the target population already has booster doses and a total of 28.5% pediatric doses have been applied among children aged 5 to 11 years.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/health/836-of-panamanians-have-received-covid-vaccine

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OPINION: Walking the dollars walk  to re-election

Posted 20/02/2022

The mayor of Colón, Alex Lee, cannot believe anything. In September of last year he promised that both he and 29 of his colleagues and 170 corregimiento representatives would eliminate from their income the collection of paid leave that they enjoy in other government positions. 

Five months later, all of them are still collecting every penny of those licenses for work they don't do. His second lie is more recent. Lee promised to go "voluntarily" to give his statement in an investigation carried out by the Electoral Prosecutor's Office, after testifying to the media about the use they give to the disproportionate and unjustified mobilization expenses that, in his case, amount to $3,500 a month, while thirteen out of fifteen corregimiento representatives in his district each earn $5,000 a month. Far from going voluntarily, Lee has already had to be summoned twice, and the Prosecutor's Office has warned that if he does not go, he will be taken. Lee candidly admitted that the mobilization expenses are used to "walk" in their communities, "if not, they won't win again, and a mayor who doesn't walk, a representative who doesn't walk, loses in his corregimiento" in the elections. A confession and relay of evidence – LA PRENSA, Feb. 20.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/opinion-walking-the-dollars-walk-to-re-election

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Colon mayor to bite expenses bullet on Monday

Posted 20/02/2022

One month after the mayor of Colón, Rolando Alex Lee, declared that he would "voluntarily" go to the Electoral General Prosecutor's Office (FGE) to answer for an investigation against him for alleged use of public funds in politics, the official still has not appeared reports La Prensa

The FGE had summoned him for February 14, but Lee did not attend. The prosecutor in charge of Manuel Del Cid's case will be waiting for him on Monday, February 21, after he managed to notify him to appear, in a second attempt.

On December 21, when the FGE announced that it had opened an investigation, he said he would go "voluntarily." A day earlier he had confessed that the local authorities use the mobilization funds (in his case $3,500 a month) to walk in the communities and re-elect themselves to their positions.

Alex Lee has been summoned by the General Electoral Prosecutor's Office (FGE) to appear this Monday, February 21, as part of an investigation for the alleged use of public funds in politics.

The process originated after the January 20, 2022 declaration that the controversial mobilization expenses are used; otherwise, he added, they "would not win again."

Lee receives $3,500 a month in transportation expenses, while 13 of the 15 representatives of his district receive $5,000 in that category, according to figures from the Comptroller General.

The exact words of Lee were: “the mobilization expenses are used because here everyone walks in their communities. If not, they won't win again and the mayor who doesn't walk, the representative who doesn't walk, is left losing in his corregimiento”.

Then, a reporter asked him if he was saying that the funds are used to get elected again. His response was: “that is the interpretation that you give it, that mobilization expense we see as a work tool to serve our communities”.

According to the Comptroller, the mobilization expenses for the mayors and representatives of the country cost $1,026,00 a month, or $12.3 million a year.

As a result of the scandal, on January 24 the Comptroller's Office announced that since January 20 it had ordered the suspension of mobilization expenses and began an investigation into their use. His progress is unknown.

In an interview with La Prensa, the coordinator of the electoral prosecutors of the first jurisdictional district, Luis Guerra, said that Lee said that he would go "voluntarily" to give his statement, but did not appear. He was then issued a citation ticket for February 14, but he did not show up.

But last Wednesday, February 16, the prosecutor in the case, Manuel Del Cid, sent him the second ticket to appear  Monday, at the FGE headquarters on East 54th Street in the capital.

"I don't think he wants to put himself through the rigors of arrest," Guerra said.

“He has to come to the Prosecutor's Office, the rule says that when the investigation is in the hands of the entity that investigates, in this case, the Electoral Prosecutor's Office, it is not necessary to lift the criminal jurisdiction and we can continue the investigation until necessary. I am sure that Mr. Alex Lee is going to come, ”he clarified.

Expense reports
The FGB has requested reports from the Comptroller and the Treasury Department of the Municipality of Colón on the amounts received by the mayor in mobilization expenses and their breakdown.

In addition, he sent an official letter to the Public Services Authority to certify the videos published by the media in which Lee's statements that gave rise to the investigations can be heard.

The Electoral Code establishes that the assets and resources of the State must not be used for the benefit of certain candidates or political parties.

Lee has said his words were misconstrued.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/colon-mayor-to-bite-expenses-bullet-on-monday

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Securiti forces sieze 12 tons of drugs, 457 firearms

Posted 20/02/2022

Panama security forces have seized, some 12 tons of drugs in the first 50 days of the year.

In addition, in the same period, $68 thousand and 96 dollars have been seized and 457 illegal firearms were in the possession of criminal groups, while 660 people have been captured.

The province where the most weapons have been seized is Panama, with 303; followed by Colón (47), Panamá Oeste (44) and Chiriquí (22).

To date, 40 operations have been carried out against drug trafficking. The three provinces with the highest drug seizures, between cocaine and marijuana, are: Colón (5,418), Panama (4,261), and Chiriquí (163), reports the Ministry of Public Security (Minseg).

"The pace of the battle against organized crime will not slow down," said Juan Manuel Pino, head of the Minseg.

According to Minseg, in the first 50 days of the year, 103,766 tickets were issued for violations of traffic regulations, of which 26,708 corresponded to motorists who were driving at excessive speed.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/securiti-forces-sieze-12-tons-of-drugs-457-firearms

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Historical idiocy in the National Assembly

Posted 19/02/2022

The career of historian was annexed by the National Assembly to the long list of professions that for its exercise it is necessary to have been born in Panama, in addition to having to obtain suitability to work in museums, libraries, etc. The initiative is nonsense from every point of view, but our deputies suffer from blindness, as well as of nationalism that borders on the ridiculous. Panama must have the longest, peripatetic and absurd list of professions reserved for those born here in the world. Historian is the umpteenth career or trade prohibited to foreigners, among which are security agent, medical visitor, laboratory technician, pharmacist, nurse, barbershop, and cosmetology, in addition to 22 types of engineering, including mining and even agricultural. What is the difference in whether a medical visitor is Panamanian or Argentine? Or that a historian is German? Doesn't their knowledge count because they weren't born in Panama? And while we're at it, why not nationalize the career of political marketing or soccer or baseball coach, or that those who play these sports in Panama are only Panamanians? Truly, idiocy has gone far – LA PRENSA, Feb. 19.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/historical-idiocy-in-the-national-assembly

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Sharp drop in Panama construction activity

Posted 18/02/2022

Panama’s Construction  Industry Chamber (Capac) reports "a sharp drop" in its contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

"What is reflected in the contraction of investments and a direct effect on the increase in unemployment in the sector," the union said in a statement.

According to Capac, official figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC) indicate that the participation of the construction sector in GDP in 2019 -before the pandemic- was 14.5%.

In 2020 -in the middle of the pandemic- it was 5.5% and there was a slight recovery in the third quarter to 8.8%.

“A comparison of contributions to GDP by the construction sector indicates that in the third quarter of 2019 it reached $1,551.8 billion, in the same period of 2020 $450.2 million and in 2021 it was placed at $907 million, well below the figure before the pandemic, ”says the organization.

Another important indicator, says Capac, is that of the investments in construction declared to obtain approval of plans in the district of Panama and half a dozen of the main districts of the country.

Currently the construction sector occupies 8.2% of the economically active population, it adds.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/business/sharp-drop-in-panama-construction-activity-1

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Four children burned to death in Colón fire

Posted 19/02/2022

Four children were burned to death when the house they lived in caught fire early Saturday, February 19, in the community of Buena Vista, Colón.

The fire was registered at 5:30 am when the minors were sleeping inside the zinc and wood house, in the remote community. The fire spread quickly and the flames prevented them from being rescued by members of the Fire Department who arrived at the scene.

The victims were Allan Bonilla, 2 years old, Amanda Bonilla, 4, Isabel Bonilla, 6, and Andrés Bonilla, 8. The mother of the minors survived the tragedy, but suffered burns.

The Firefighters Safety Office initiated the study to determine the causes of the incident, while the DIJ and the Public Ministry proceed with jnvestigations

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Panama heads the region in use of addictive substances

Posted 19/02/2022

Panama ranks first in the consumption of addictive substances in Central America and the Caribbean,  says the preamble  to a law that creates the National Program for the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation of Youth with Addiction Problems studies show that the young people, marijuana, tobacco, cigarettes, among others.”

For this reason, “it should be emphasized that drug addiction has to be treated as a disease, which, due to its alarming increase, must be treated as a public health problem; Unfortunately, a large number of patients addicted to alcohol or tobacco, to mention some addictive substances, have not had the opportunity to have a free treatment and rehabilitation option, much less a proposal to reintegrate into society, which has as a consequence that a vicious circle is generated and that the State is obliged to counteract.”

Elmer Caballero, chief deputy commissioner of the San Francisco Police Zone, indicates that last year (2021), at the national level, an average of 657 operations against micro-trafficking were carried out and 750 people were apprehended, in  the provinces of Panamá Oeste, Panamá, Los Santos and Veraguas where most of the operations were carried out.

In the first ten days of February 2022, 108 people were apprehended and 2,523 doses of illicit substances linked to micro-trafficking were seized.

Deputy Commissioner Caballero details that a person's addiction results in robbery since he does not have money to satisfy his addiction, he will carry out these acts to achieve it.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama-heads-the-region-in-use-of-addictive-substances-1

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Covid-19 deaths reach 8,000 mark

Posted 19/02/2022

The Ministry of Health (Minsa) reported Friday, February 18, 8,000 accumulated deaths due to Covid-19 since March 2020.

In the l  previous 24 hours 4 deaths have been reported and 3 from previous dates have been updated, for a lethality of 1.1%.

Meanwhile, 8,963 tests were applied to detect  1,219 the newly infected, for a positivity level of 13.6%. 378 are hospitalized  273 in rooms and 55 in intensive care units.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/health/covid-19-deaths-reach-8000-mark

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Court rejects get out of jail card for gang-linked lawyer

Solano at the time of her arrest.

Posted 18/02/2022

The Court of Appeals maintained the provisional detention measure for Nicel Solano, a former official of the Judicial Branch, who is being investigated for her alleged link to an organized crime group.

The Court considered that the change of measure for Solano could be dangerous for the community since it is an issue of organized crime.

Rigoberto Veragara, from Solano's defense, was requesting house arrest at the hearing.

However, on this point, the Court held that Solano could not be in a residence because she could have access to communication equipment.

The Court of Appeals was made up of judges Luis Mario Carrasco, Marlene Morales and Asunción Alonso.

Nicel Solano, a criminal lawyer who was captured on Thursday as a result of her alleged collaboration with the HP gang (Humility and Purity), was charged and ordered arrested last Saturday, February 12, after an extensive hearing.

Eusebio Rangel, another of those investigated in the case will also remain in provisional detention.

Both, detained within Operation Damascus, were charged with the alleged commission of the crime of organized crime. In addition, Solando was also charged with the alleged crime of corruption of public servants.

Solano was an assistant to the magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice Maribel Cornejo until December 27, 2021, just five days after the prosecutor Kritza Tejada revealed in a hearing that a person in the Judicial Branch was leaking information to the HP gang. .

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/court-rejects-get-out-of-jail-card-for-gang-linked-lawyer

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Martinelli seeks to remove judge from New Business trial

Posted 17/02/2022

The New Business case faces a new obstacle. Former President Ricardo Martinelli challenged Judge Baloisa Marquínez, with the purpose of removing her from the case reports La Prensa.

The Judge had asked the Electoral Court to lift the jurisdiction which Martinelli Martinelli used as a cover leading to the postponement of the trial until May.

The defense of Martinelli added new resources in the process that is being followed for the alleged commission of money laundering in the New Business case. This time it is a recusal against the third judge liquidator of criminal cases, Baloisa Marquínez, in order to separate her from the case.

The appeal is in the hands of Agueda Rentería, the first judge to liquidate criminal cases, who must analyze the legal action and notify Marquínez so that she can present her arguments.

In an edict posted at the headquarters of the First Criminal Court, Rentería informs that it will suspend the resolution of the appeal presented by Martinelli's defense until the request to lift the electoral jurisdiction is made by Judge Marquínez to the Court is resolved.

But this is not the only resource that the former president's lawyers have filed in recent days to knock down the case. In the Public Ministry they also filed a complaint against Marquínez for abuse of authority and excess of functions, for allegedly prosecuting Martinelli when, according to the complaint, he was protected by the principle of specialty.

Roniel Ortiz, from Martinelli's team of lawyers, assured that Judge Marquínez never carried out a procedure to request the exception to the principle of specialty of his client, therefore, he says that everything that has been done in this case is null. Ortiz explained that the judge had to submit the request for exception of the principle of specialty to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and from there to the US judge Edwin Torres, who ordered the extradition of Martinelli to Panama in 2018 in order to establish whether or not said request proceeds.

US Embassy
However, the US embassy in Panama has repeatedly disclosed the position of the State Department in this case. The last time it was pronounced was on December 23. "The position of the State Department has not changed: Panama is free to take Mr. Martinelli to trial without obtaining an exception from the United States (US) to the specialty rule," the embassy assured that day.

Before the preliminary hearing for Martinelli and 33 others investigated in the New Business case was suspended on January 28, Judge Marquínez had rejected several incidents of annulment presented by the former president's defense.

Among them, one for maintaining alleged immunity because when the investigation began in 2017, he was a deputy of the Central American Parliament. And the other is related to the alleged violation of the specialty principle.

But at the hearing, Judge Marquínez rejected both allegations. Regarding the principle of specialty, she argued that this situation had already been discussed by her office, and added that the Second Superior Court of Justice had even confirmed her decision to reject it.

Later, Martinelli's defense argued that his client had criminal electoral jurisdiction as a result of internal elections of Realizing Metas (RM), the political party he created and of which he serves as president. Marquínez decided to suspend the hearing until May 19 and asked the Electoral Tribunal (TE) to lift his jurisdiction.

TE sources reported that on Wednesday officials from the Electoral Administrative Court placed an edict on the door of the RM party headquarters to notify it of the impeachment process. Now their lawyers must present the corresponding defenses.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/martinelli-seeks-to-remove-judge-from-new-business-trial

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Doctor fined $6,000 for posting covid-19 misinformation

Posted 17/02/2022

Dr. Marta María Roa De Gracia de Salteiro has been fined $6000 by the Ministry of Health (Minsa), because she made “statements in alternative media attributing deaths in children, adults and health professionals to vaccination against Covid-19 without providing scientific medical evidence, among other faults.”

“By hindering, with her statements, the vaccination actions established by the health authority, Dr. Roa has violated article 20 of Law 48 of December 5, 2007, which regulates the vaccination process in the Republic of Panama.”

It also points out that it violated Resolution No. 1420 of June 1, 2020, which establishes the mandatory use of masks "by inciting the population not to use the chinstrap and personally not to use it, as there is evidence during a protest in the Supreme Court of Justice”.

A report from Minsa indicates that the doctor offered unauthorized statements in the media and social networks on November 15, 2021, November 16, 2021, and January 21, 2022.

“In these statements, Dr. Roa encourages the population not to get vaccinated against Covid-19. She assures that there are more than a thousand deaths due to the vaccine in Panama, that there are deaths of children and adults due to the vaccine, that healthy people are dying after applying the vaccine, that there is death among health professionals who attend hospitals, among other indications given without providing scientific evidence, ”

http://Doctor fined $6,000 for posting covid-19 misinformation

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Investigation into  no-consent sterilization of indigenous women

Posted 17/02/2022

An investigation has been opened after a dozen Panamanian indigenous women reported having been sterilized without their consent in a public hospital.

"The women approached us, as authority figures, and told us that they are being sterilized without their consent," alternate deputy Walkiria Chandler told AFP.

According to the legislator, the complaint was made to a delegation of deputies of which she was a member during a visit to the indigenous community of Charco La Pava, a mountainous area of difficult access located in the province of Bocas del Toro.

The delegation had gone to the town, inhabited by Ngäbe-Buglé indigenous people, to address a complaint about a possible outbreak of a parasitic disease in children. Once in the place, several women denounced the sterilizations.

The deputy and president of the Commission for Women, Children, Youth and Family of the National Assembly, Zulay Rodríguez, told AFP that a legislative subcommission will be created in the coming days to investigate the events.

“It is extremely serious and we are going to investigate it,” said Rodríguez, of the ruling  PRD. “What has happened is not going to go unpunished.”

On his Twitter account, the Ombudsman Eduardo Leblanc reported that he will request details about "the women allegedly affected."

The indigenous women said that those who have given birth in the hospital named for the alleged sterilizations "lost their reproductive capacity."

However, those who gave birth in their communities, under ancestral procedures, "were able to continue reproducing," added Chandler.

Rodríguez also assured that to date "there has been no response" from the health authorities to these complaints.

“We are not disregarding the testimonies of the women of the original populations, but due to due process, it seems correct to us to listen to both parties to find out what is happening,” Chandler declared.

On Tuesday, Chandler questioned the Vice-Minister of Health, Ivette Berrio, about the case during an appearance in the Assembly, but her questions were rejected because they were not related to the case that caused the appearance of the vice-Minister.

In 2021, the same legislative commission denounced the abuse and rape in shelters of more than a dozen poor children, which led to the opening of several legal proceedings.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/investigation-into-no-consent-sterilization-of-indigenous-women

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OPINION: Unjustified deaths on the rise

Posted 15/02/2022

THE EFFORTS carried out by the Health personnel, in order to immunize the child population (from 5 to 11 years of age) are being hampered due to the enormous misinformation that circulates among the population, which puts at risk. the lives of minors because, with vaccines available, they are not being vaccinated due to the decision of their parents, who obviously pay more attention to misinformation. It seems that these people are not aware of the deaths that are recorded among hospitalized patients due to the lack of complete vaccines and that the deaths and infections of Covid-19 among children have skyrocketed in this fourth wave. On average, the unvaccinated reach 80% of those who have lost their lives in recent weeks. But, in addition, the decision of these parents affects the rights of other children, whose relatives, responsibly, have vaccinated their children, but who will face the risk of contagion once classes begin in person, with children who have not been immunized. The longer this situation continues, the more difficult it will be to get out of this painful situation, which has tens of thousands of people out of work and a noticeably depressed economy, while unjustified deaths increase. – LA PRENSA, Feb. 15

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/opinion-unjustified-deaths-on-the-rise

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Health Minister Sucre steps aside for treatment abroad

Dr. Ivette Berrio.

Posted 16/02/2022

Panama’s Health Minister Luis Francisco Sucre, is leaving office  “to travel abroad to undergo a medical evaluation and procedure," said a brief statement on Tuesday, February 15, from the Ministry of Health.

The Vice Minister of Health, Dr. Ivette Berrío, will assume the position of Minister on Wednesday, and the current Secretary-General, José Baruco, will serve as Vice-Minister.

"Once Dr. Sucre completes the recovery period indicated by the doctors, he will return to his usual work at the head of the Ministry”, added the statement. Sucre took over as Minister in June 2020, replacing Rosario Turner, who was relieved of her post amid a severe increase in covid-19 cases.

Panama, a country of 4.28 million inhabitants, accumulates 743,653 confirmed infections and 7,960 deaths from covid-19. Now, the country is emerging from a fourth pandemic wave fueled by the omicron variant. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) indicated in its most recent report that in Panama at least 57% of its people have a complete vaccination schedule and 72% have received at least one dose, which places the country among those with the highest proportion of the population fully immunized, above the global average of 53%.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/health-minister-sucre-steps-aside-for-treatment-abroad