Keith Woolford

At Miraflores

Should be $1.65 billion. At $1.65 million we could have bought it ourselves.

Wow BD. Do you like it when foreigners who are living in the U.S. whine publicly about everything they perceive that's wrong with their community or the U.S. government ?

Mike, I have no doubt that street business has been affected. To what extent is hard to say. All the established businesses I patronize are still there and the town has been full of tourists for a few months now.

Instead of jumping on the 'Let's blame the Mayor" bandwagon for every negative in this town (the easy thing to do), I attempt to provide reasonable, factual answers ..in this case why the two businesses failed. In one instance the rent is exorbitant. The other location had no parking, and if I'm not mistaken, the operator has also been unsuccessful at several other unrelated business ventures.

Morgan Freeman has been spotted around Panama City as he's here to inaugurate the new IMAX Theater at The Canal Museum at Miraflores. He narrates this short documentary which will be shown there. "Panama Canal : A land divided - a world united"

Neither of those were very ‘established’ businesses, imo. No business has been successful at the Bridge location. High rent is supposedly the killer there. I believe the owners are working out of their home on Av. A East and are open in the afternoons. The biggest problem with the building near Banco Nacional is a lack of parking because the prime tenant rents out it's parking lot to artesans. Gastronomia Otto has done well there but David is now relocating it to a new spot across from La Posada.

I don’t recall 40+ businesses being closed in Boquete.

Maybe he found his way home.

Abraham Morales. He looks very familiar to me, RIP

IPACOOP is the regulatory body that has been handling the liquidation of the COACECSS Credit Union in which many foreign residents had made high yield deposits.

The body of the young man was recovered early this afternoon. RIP https://twitter.com/RetenChiriqui/status/1099037497043103744

A search commenced this morning in the Caldera River canyon near Milla 4 (Oriana) for 26 year old Abraham Morales who apparently disappeared in the area yesterday.

Sounds like a pretty minor interruption considering that bridge was out of service for about 10 years.

The Presidents of Panama and Costa Rica are currently meeting at the Panamonte. There may be minor disruptions to traffic.

The driver of this pickup truck was fined yesterday in Los Naranjos for unsafely hauling passengers in the box without seat belts.

Migrants being Relocated In the next few hours, the health authorities will move to the area to verify their condition and if they are vaccinated. PHOTO / JOSÉ VÁSQUEZ By: Jose Vásquez Chiriquí - Sunday February 17, 2019 12:00 AM A group of Cubans and Africans who entered Panamanian territory by crossing the border with Darien were transported Saturday to the province of Chiriqui, confirmed a source from the Joint Task Force. The Cuban migrants were transferred to the shelter located in the community of Los Planes in the district of Gualaca, province of Chiriqui. While the Africans were moved to the border area of Paso Canoas to continue their journey to the United States. The source points out that there are not a number of Cubans transferred to the shelter, since this data is handled by the National Immigration Service, which must define the status of the illegals who entered through Colombia. It is expected that in the next few hours the Ministry of Health (MINSA) will send personnel for the medical evaluations of each immigrant and confirm that everyone has the vaccines that are mandatory to have at the moment of entering Panama. This is the third occasion that Gualaca facilities use to house Cuban migrants in Chiriqui. Last week, a significant number of Cuban and African migrants entered Panama, who asked to travel through Panama to reach Costa Rica and according to their passage to the United States. https://www.critica.com.pa/provincias/trasladan-inmigrantes-541342

United Nations recognizes Panama's effort to serve migrants Sat, 02/16/2019 - 22:59 The United Nations System in Panama recognized this Saturday the effort of the national government to meet the humanitarian needs of migrants arriving from Colombia and invited the authorities to "maintain these actions that they extol the country's commitment to human rights and international law". This recognition to Panama arises from the latest reports on the increase of mixed flows and movements of people of different nationalities to Puerto Obaldía and nearby communities in the province of Darién, bordering Colombia. "The respect and protection of the rights of migrants is paramount, and applies to those who are within the national territory, whatever their nationality or immigration status, without any discrimination, in order to preserve their safety, physical integrity, well-being and dignity", the UN system in Panama said in a statement. The delegations of the UN in Panama assure that this is a basic principle to achieve that, with the adoption of complementary actions, the migration is of benefit for all. In the same way, it is recalled that if there are people with international protection needs, they have the right to access the asylum system to determine their refugee status and access the corresponding rights. "From the United Nations System in Panama, we applaud the decision of the Panamanian government to work jointly with the Colombian authorities to ensure that these mixed movements of people occur in a safe, orderly and regular manner, and in compliance with international law", says the statement. The UN system emphasizes that it is attentive to support the government of Panama in the proper management of the challenges arising from these movements of people through its specialized agencies such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Office of the High Commissioner of the United Nations for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), among others. Last weekend some 720 migrants seeking to reach the United States were intercepted by the Panamanian authorities in the Darién jungle and taken to a small shelter in the coastal town of Puerto Obaldía. According to the Panamanian authorities, 57% of these stranded migrants are of Cuban nationality, while the rest come from countries such as Haiti, Cameroon, Ghana, Eritrea and Ethiopia. The massive arrival of Cubans in 2015 and the closure of borders that Nicaragua ordered led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in both Panama and Costa Rica. The migratory wave was considered as a consequence of the melting of relations between Cuba and the United States and the end of the migratory benefits for the islanders in the North American country. Source-EFE https://www.panamatoday.com/panama/united-nations-recognizes-panamas-effort-serve-migrants-9272

Well, these 'travelers' have no desire to declare themselves refugees in Panama so your point is invalid, apart from demonstrating that you're personally biased against migration ..excepting your own, of course. Myself, I''m just passing on pertinent information.

Panama does not have an open border with Colombia. It has the nearly impenetrable Darien Jungle to serve as a barrier. The referenced travelers were handled by Panamanian Migration, MINSA, and SINAPROC. None of them are citizens of 'violent' Colombia. "The arrival of migrants to Puerto Obaldia will be managed in a professional manner, the health and humanitarian issue will be seen. The sovereignty of our country will be respected." That's a quote from the Director of Immigration. He's a Panamanian. Seems like they're on top of this. Judging by the lack of local press coverage since, the situation doesn't seem to be an issue with Panamanians.

I fail to see the connection here.

So far all I have been able to determine from the Bail hearing reports is that the minor did the shooting and the adult was with him.

Anyone driving west from Panama City in the morning is best to wait until at least 9:00 a.m. to start out, imo. These crashes on the Bridge and the routes leading to it in the early morning hours are the product of temporary lane changes required to handle the flow of traffic coming into the City and the reason that a 4th bridge and highway expansions are required. The Centennial Bridge is awkward to get to from downtown, particularly without a PanaPass, and access routes currently have lane closures.

It’s hard to imagine because the referenced posts are B.S. Check the source. Sounds like the same type of alarmist propaganda reporting in the U.S. that has massive, imaginary, migrant caravans passing through Central America and Mexico.