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World Youth Day (WYD) in Panama, and Pope Francis Visits Panama (22-27 January 2019)


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For more information about World Youth Day (WYD) or Jornada Mundial de la Juventud (JMJ), please see, among other resources:

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150 thousand people attended the WYD Opening Ceremony in Panama

Wed, 01/23/2019 - 17:01

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The Opening Ceremony of the World Youth Day Panama 2019, in the Santa Maria Field La Antigua (Cinta Costera) gathered nearly 150 thousand people of which 75 thousand are registered as volunteers, pilgrims, priests, and bishops of more than 156 countries, informed the Coordinator of the Joint Interagency Task Force, Domingo Espitia.

While from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. the Youth Park "Parque Omar" concentrated approximately 100 thousand people who participated in the development of activities such as “Cristonautas,” Youth Festival, Vocational Fair "Follow me," in this place Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima pilgrim image remains.

The FTC Coordinator indicated that strong security, health care, and emergencies device was implemented by more than 4 thousand units of the San Miguel Arcangel Interagency Joint Task Force.

So far, a total of 783 medical care cases have been reported, which were treated in the Ministry of Health and the Social Security Fund facilities.

Four (four) of the 7 (seven) Health Care Posts (PAS) were installed for the WYD, in "Cinta Costera." The remaining 3 will be located in Metro Park. These facilities possess doctors, nurses, pharmacists, who will offer emergency care to pilgrims, visitors

Health personnel inspected 45 fixed or itinerant food service establishments.

MiBus mobilized 485,240 passengers, of which 3,031 traveled with the pilgrim kit card.

The Airport route (E489-I and E489-R) has made 951 trips, from January 10 to 3:00 pm today. The current operation is from 5:00 am to 12 midnight.       

The World Youth Day will last until Sunday, January 27, with the Closing Mass in the San Juan Pablo Segundo field (Metro Park), located in Juan Diaz.

Registered people up to now:

100 thousand pilgrims.

480 bishops

20 thousand national volunteers.

2,445 international volunteers.

2,500 national and international journalists.

 

https://www.panamatoday.com/panama/150-thousand-people-attended-wyd-opening-ceremony-panama-9027

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Historic arrival of Pope Francis to Panama

Thu, 01/24/2019 - 00:55

Up to seven hours, some Panamanians waited at the edge of the streets to witness the passing of Pope Francis in the first row. A row of railings marked the route from the international airport of Tocumen to the Apostolic Nunciature where finally the Supreme Pontiff would arrive. Minutes before songs and joy adorned the wait. In some places the transit of the Popemobile was very fast however, enough for those who wanted to be part of the history.

Marta, a Panamanian lady, visibly moved, remembered that she was a witness in 1983 of the visit of the then Pope, John Paul II. "As long as that father arrives in our holy country, everything is good. I'm excited, God has allowed us to see the father of our church, I'm happy".

Others a little smaller like Yarelis, now four years old, will remember shouting among the crowd, "Pope Francis here is Panama".

The Panamanians were united to a multitude of other countries. Different flags and different races gathered in the streets. "Not only Panama is celebrating but the world because here what we are going to do is to thank God and meet as a family", said Miriam Real, a young Panamanian.

For this Thursday it is expected that Pope Francis will meet with the President of the Republic, Juan Carlos Varela, at the Palacio de las Garzas, then attend a meeting with officials of the Government and Diplomatic Corps, after that he will offer his first statements. In the afternoon he will meet the young people in the Santa María La Antigua field.

 

https://www.panamatoday.com/panama/historic-arrival-pope-francis-panama-9030

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OPINION: Panama’s crisis of values

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Posted 24/01/2019
 
Pope Francisco has arrived in Panama. When the Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the successor of [Pope]Paul, hopeful winds of transparency, accountability and renewed commitments to the Catholic Church arrived. Pope Francis has faced scandals of sexual abuse and other issues by the clergy. All this has been done without neglecting the updating of the doctrine of the Church on major contemporary challenges, especially in the environmental issue. Pope Francis has become the great moral reference of our time. On March 5, 1983, Pope John Paul II visited our country and his presence served as a catalyst for the activism of civil society and the ethical demand of the population at that time against the military dictatorship. Today, when Panama faces a crisis of values, the lack of justice, the widespread perception that great corruption is unpunished, and the immorality of the organs of the State is manifest, the visit of Francisco must be a balm for the good soul of Panamanians.- LA PRENSA Jan.24
 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/opinion-panamas-crisis-of-values

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So ..what's the Pope saying while he's here?

The Pope encourages the young to the "culture of the encounter" and to disavow those who sow division

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On Thursday, Pope Francis encouraged young people from all over the world present at the welcoming ceremony of the World Youth Day (WYD) in Panama to continue cultivating the "culture of encounter" "to disavow those who sow division and exclude those who "are not like us".

The pontiff participated in the ceremony of the WYD held in the Cinta Costera de Panama and considered the central celebration of this Catholic act that brought together some 150,000 young people, including some 85,000 pilgrims from around the world.

He recalled that the young people in the preparation of this event have been "true teachers and artisans of the culture of the meeting", one of the ideas repeated by Bergoglio in his speeches.

To these young people, especially from Latin America and many of them immigrants, he praised that "with their gestures and attitudes, with their eyes, their desires and especially with their sensitivity, they deny and disallow all those discourses that are concentrated and strive to sow division, in excluding or expelling those who 'are not like us'".

In a ceremony starring by representations of the various countries and traditions with songs and dances, Francis recalled that they come from different cultures and peoples, speak different languages, but that none of that is an obstacle for them to meet, feel happy and be together.

"And this because they have that sense of smell that knows to intuit that 'true love does not annul the legitimate differences, but harmonizes them in a unity’”, he said, quoting a homily of Benedict XVI and asked for a strong applause for the pope emeritus.

“To find yourself”, said the pontiff from the huge balcony in the Cinta Costera, "does not mean to imitate, nor to think the same everybody or to live the same everybody, doing and repeating the same things, listening to the same music or wearing the same football team shirt, not that".

Francisco said that "the culture of the meeting is a call and an invitation to dare to keep a common dream alive, yes, a big dream capable of sheltering everyone".

The Pope also had affectionate words for the young indigenous people who made the "walked of America" and for the young Afro-descendants.

The pontiff who arrived in Panama on Wednesday, encouraged the young people to go forward to renew the Church, although "not to create a parallel church a little more 'fun' or ‘cool’".

He spoke of the sacrifice they made to participate in this Day and said: "Today we can be on the ‘rumba’, because this ‘rumba’ began a long time ago in each community".

Jorge Bergoglio indicated that what keeps these young people together is the love of the Lord that "does not push violence or crush, a love that does not marginalize, that does not shut up, a love that does not humiliate or subjugate".

Francis wished that the most hopeful thing that comes out of this WYD "is not a document or a program to be executed", but the faces and hearts of these young people "filled with the Holy Spirit to remember and keep alive that dream that binds us and that we are invited not to let it freeze in the heart of the world: wherever we are. "

The Argentine pope concluded by wishing that "Panama today is not only a channel that unites seas, but also a channel where the dream of God continues to find channels to grow and multiply and radiate in all corners of the earth".

Source-EFE

https://www.panamatoday.com/panama/pope-encouraged-young-culture-encounter-disavow-those-who-sow-division-9040

THE TRUMP WALL: “Fear drives us crazy”

POPE FRANCIS has criticized the immigration policy of US President Donald Trump, who intends to build a wall on the border between the US  and Mexico.

"Fear drives us crazy," he told journalists on the flight to Panama to participate in World Youth Day (WYD). During the trip, a journalist handed him a drawing of a young migrant who had died at sea and who had his grade book sewn into his clothes. The pontiff was moved saying he wanted to talk about it on the return trip on Sunday, January 27.

His visit takes place in the midst of the longest shut down of government services in the history of the United States, a paralysis generated by the promised wall, and by the advance of a new caravan of migrants from Central America to the north.

The first Latin American pontiff in history, the son of Italian immigrants in Argentina, has made the difficult situation of migrants and refugees one of the cornerstones of his mandate.

He reinforced his message during his address to scores of thousands of pilgrims  including hundreds of Americans on the Cinta Costera on Thursday,  January 24 when he  urged young people  to “discredit those who sow division or exclude those that ‘are not like us’ “

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/the-trump-wall-fear-drives-us-crazy

Edited by Keith Woolford
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I agree...the message is confusing. 

 'true love does not annul the legitimate differences, but harmonizes them in a unity’”  he states 

To find yourself”, said the pontiff from the huge balcony in the Cinta Costera, "does not mean to imitate, nor to think the same everybody or to live the same everybody, doing and repeating the same things, listening to the same music or wearing the same football team shirt, not that"....he states

I hope the youth are inspired by his message .  I remain confused..but for me...that's normal.

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4 hours ago, Dottie Atwater said:

.... "to disavow those who sow division and exclude those who "are not like us". The pope speaks from both sides of his mouth. He is actually sowing division with that statement.

It's possible that he means to disavow those who both sow division and exclude others who "are not like us."

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" true love does not annul the legitimate differences, but harmonizes them in a unity" and "to disavow those who sow division and exclude those who "are not like us".

I read the first quote to mean "'true love doesn't recognize race and be true to your self", and the second as "reject divisive bigots".

Edited by Keith Woolford
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Six heads of state for WYD Closing mass

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Posted 26/01/2019
 
The presidents of Costa Rica, Colombia, Portugal, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras will be at the closing mass of the World Youth Day (WYD) to be celebrated on Sunday by Pope Francis in Metro Park.

Early on Saturday scores of thousands  of pilgrims and Panamanian Catholics headed for the park to ensure their place for the vigil starting   at  6 p.m. with Pope Francis . The president of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, his wife and first lady, Claudia Dobles, and the ruler of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, were  already in the Panamanian capital and they participated in the consecration mass of the new altar of the Cathedral Basilica Santa María La Antigua in Casco Viejo.

It is expected that on Sunday it will be announced that the next WYD will be held in Portugal, something Portuguese bishops leaked a few weeks ago, which explains hence the presence of President Rebelo de Sousa in the Panamanian capital.

The Chancellery of Panama has indicated that the presidents are not expected to hold bilateral meetings as  they will only come to the Mass, the central act of the last day of the WYD, which officially began last Tuesday, a day before the arrival of the Pope.

The mass  Mass for WYD is scheduled for 8 a.m. on Sunday from 08.00 local time (13.00 GMT) in Campo San Juan Pablo II, located in the Metro Park, where the organizers they expect up to 600,000 people.

There is a large of 9 meters high, platform as well as towers with giant screens so that attendees can see the mass from all points.

On Friday, January 26 the Pontiff witnessed who a viacrucis,(stations of the cross)  on the giant structure  built for WYD on the Cinta Costera. During his homilies   he has and called for the  repudiation of exclusion and marginalization , violence against women and corruption, while the religious have been asked to listen to the suffering of the people.

According to the organizers, about 90,000 pilgrims participated in WYD, in addition to hundreds of bishops, and thousands of priests .and some

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/six-heads-of-state-for-wyd-closing-mass

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On 1/19/2019 at 5:35 PM, Bonnie said:

I tend to admire youth groups .... who have organized together to fight world poverty and promote human dignity.

I'm the first to agree that it's satisfying to see youth engaged in something other than their cell phones!

I am not a Catholic nor a fan of the church, but I do see this whole event as a positive for Panama, the region, and the people who participated, particularly the young people who are the citizens and leaders of the future.

Over 700,000 people are attending the final Mass being celebrated this morning.

Edited by Keith Woolford
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This was another good message from the Pope, imo.

"This life is going to go fast  ..do not fight with people, do not criticize your body so much, do not complain so much, do not lose sleep over the accounts.

Look for a partner that makes you happy, always look for your happiness and that of the the rest.

Never cease to be a good father.

Do not worry so much in buying luxuries and comforts for your house, nor leaving your family an inheritance. The properties and monies must be earned by each one, do not be dedicated to accumulate money.

Enjoy travel, enjoy your walks, know new places, enjoy what you like and deserve, and allow dogs to be closer to you.

Do not put the cups away. Use the new crockery, do not save your favorite perfume, use it to walk around with yourself, wear out your favorite tennis shoes, repeat your favorite clothes. So what? If it's not bad, why not now? Why not pray now instead of waiting to pray before going to sleep? Why not call now? Why not forgive now?

Much is expected for Christmas, Friday, birthdays, when you have money, when love arrives, when everything is perfect ... Look ... There is no perfect everything. Human beings can not achieve this because it simply was not meant to be completed here.

Here is a learning opportunity. So take this proof of life and do it now

... Love more, forgive more, embrace more, live more intensely and leave the rest in the hands of God. "

translated from:

"Está vida se va a ir rápido, no pelee con la gente, no critique tanto su cuerpo, no se queje tanto, no pierda el sueño por las cuentas. Busque la pareja que lo haga feliz, siempre busque su felicidad y la de los demás.
Nunca deje ser buen padre.
No se preocupe tanto en comprar lujos y comodidades para su casa, ni se mate dejándole herencia a su familia. Los bienes y patrimonios deben ser ganados por cada uno, no se dedique a acumular plata.
Disfruté, viaje, goze de sus paseos, conozca nuevos lugares, dese los gustos que merece y permita tener a los perros más cerca.
No se ponga a guardar las copas. Utilice la nueva vajilla, no economice su perfume favorito, úselo para pasear contigo mismo, gaste sus tenis favoritos, repita sus ropas favoritas ¿Y qué? Si no está mal, ¿por qué no ahora? ¿Por qué no orar en vez de esperar a orar antes de dormir? ¿Por qué no llamar ahora? ¿Por qué no perdonar ahora? Se espera mucho para la Navidad, el viernes, un año más, cuando se tenga dinero, cuando el amor llegue, cuando todo sea perfecto... Mire .... No existe el todo perfecto.
Los seres humanos no pueden lograr esto porque simplemente no se hizo para completarlo aquí.
Aquí es una oportunidad de aprendizaje. Así que tome está prueba de vida y hagalo ahora... Ame más, perdone más, abrace más, viva más intensamente y deje el resto en las manos de Dios".

 

Edited by Keith Woolford
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OPINION: Renewing self esteem

 
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Posted 28/01/2019
 
After months of preparation and more than a week of events that included social work, artistic meetings and religious activities, yesterday the World Youth Day concluded in our country, with the active participation of thousands of Panamanians who got involved in different ways to make possible the most important mass meeting of our recent history. There are many messages and lessons of intangible value, which align with the true definition of "success" on which it is worth reflecting, especially when we do not have to renew our authorities. The main ones have to do with our self-esteem and our sorrows. How good it was to see that tide of young faces, of such diverse languages and cultures, walking, dancing, interacting in our streets, regardless of skin color, nationality or social condition! All connected with life. These guys appropriated, for example, the public space that we had gradually yielded. It's good that the authorities -even with the blackout test- can make public services work more efficiently! One of the challenges as a nation is to convert the call of Pope Francis to abandon the indifference that corrodes us as a society in a kind of gadfly that stings us every time we fall asleep and renounce hope. A better country is always possible.-LA PRENSA, Jan.28
 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/opinion-renewing-self-esteem

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Pope calls Panama noble

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Posted 29/01/2019
 
POPE FRANCIS  whose Avianca flight arrived back in Rome on Monday after his visit to World Youth Day (WYD)  in Panama, told reporters on the plane that accompanied him on the trip  that he discovered a noble country,  "I felt a new feeling, I know Latin America, but I did not know Panama, and this word came to me to describe it:

The pontiff left the afternoon of Sunday, January 27, from the Tocumen International Airport and arrived on Monday at the Ciampino airport in Rome.

Francis was in Panama from January 23 to 27, and participated in different activities including visiting young jailed prisoners and HIV patients. during the World

In his the Twitter account, the pontiff thanked the Panamanian people for opening the doors of their homes and welcoming thousands of pilgrims who came to the isthmus from different countries of the world.

Since announcing to the world in 2016 that Panama would host the WYD in 2019, the Pope entrusted the challenge to the small country, a request that the bishops of Central America had made.

At the end of, thousands of pilgrims have cataloged it as successful and highlighted the hospitality of Panamanians reports TVN.

The  next WYD will be held in Lisbon, Portugal in 2022.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/pope-calls-panama-noble-1

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The metro of Panama transported 2.6 million people during the WYD

Wed, 01/30/2019 - 19:58

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At least 2.6 million people transported the metro of Panama during the World Youth Day (WYD), with only 55 attended by dehydration and six by falls on stairs, reported this Wednesday an executive of the entity that administers the service.

The Director of Operations of the metro of Panama, Luis Díaz, specified to channel 2 TVN Media that during the week of January 22 to 27, that number of users was transported in an "arduous work of coordination" between the entities linked to land transport.

According to metro statistics, in normal days, 4.1 million people would have been transported in that six-day period, but it was planned for an increase due to the massive arrival of pilgrims.

In that activity the subway, which two days before had been stopped by a general blackout in the country that lasted four hours, the suburban was only stopped accidentally "two minutes" by a minor failure, detailed Díaz.

Between last Saturday and Sunday, the service was provided uninterruptedly, availability was 99.99 percent, said Díaz, who "congratulated" all the workers on lines 1 and 2 of the subway that offered their support to the success of the operation.

Only "at dawn on Sunday 27 we transport 10,000 people to the Metro Park", the place where Pope Francis celebrated the final mass of WYD with the participation of some 750,000 people, according to the organizers of the religious activity.

The representative of the state entity that manages the subway explained that next weekend will be placed in the hands of the builder of line 2 the facilities to continue with the work.

For the WYD, the constructors, a consortium between the companies Odebrecht from Brazil and FCC from Spain, hurried the set-up of the line and finished five of the 16 stations that the route has for its rail way of more than 21 kilometers between the east and the north of the capital, where it connects with line 1, which goes from north to south.

This will allow -Díaz said- that the consortium complete the works of the remaining eleven pending stations, make final adjustments and continue with the repair of the sidewalk affected by the construction, because it is part of the construction contract.

Almost 2,000 million dollars invested in Panama on line 2 of the metro, a figure similar to what it assigned to line 1, which was also built by the same consortium and is in operation since 2014.

Díaz recalled that line 2 will serve more than half a million people living in the eastern sector of the capital, for which it will have 12 trains with capacity for a thousand people.

He specified that, according to the contract, the consortium must deliver the operating metro on May 7, but it is expected that this will happen in the last days of April.

 

https://www.panamatoday.com/panama/metro-panama-transported-26-million-people-during-wyd-9102

 

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An opinion piece from La Prensa via  Newsroom Panama summarizing lessons learned from hosting the JMJ.

OFF THE CUFF: “Yes We Can” - Lessons learned from WYD

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Anyone, who  strolled along the Cinta Costera  last week and witnessed the exuberance of scores of thousands of young pilgrims during the The World Youth Day (WYD/JMJ) celebrations or saw happy groups, clustered around their national flags as  they brought deserted streets back to  joyous life  without the need for alcohol stimulus that bedevils  Carnival,  realized that, if only for a few days there was a “Yes We Can” feeling in the air. If it can be extended during the upcoming election campaign it might aid the “No to reelection” movement, and rid Panama of self-serving thieves disguised as lawmakers.

On Wednesday, January 30   Rodrigo Noriega listed in La Prensa some of the insights gained during the event.

*  Possibilities - There are no more excuses for not taking on big projects that involve us all equally. we can all make it possible.  

Volunteers are a sleeping giant. Some 18,000 volunteers, of which about( 80% Panamanians) made possible the human action that from Chiriquí to Darién mobilized, received, attended, fed, guided and guided the hundreds of thousands of visitors. The volunteers had to put money out of their pocket and find their own means to achieve these ends.  Imagine what could be achieved using this force for other laudable purposes, such as eradicating illiteracy, organizing communities to improve their style and quality of life and defeating the nefarious criminal gangs.  

*  WYD would not have been a success without the logistics of public transport. I do not imagine the "red devils" carrying pilgrims safely and efficiently. Lines 1 and 2 of the Metro mobilized more than 497 thousand people daily. However, taxis are still the missing link in this system. We need to address this issue, otherwise, sooner or later we will pass the bill. 

Air tickets are strangling tourism The Guatemalan delegation, said that their group would be made up of more than 2,000 pilgrims, but a ticket price increase in the tickets left half behind. Some pilgrims from Costa Rica preferred to charter a ship to come to Panama by sea they were joined by pilgrims from Mexico and Europe. It is cheaper to fly from Costa Rica to Mexico, than to Panama.

*   Tourism can be the great economic activity that raises the whole country, but cannot be the model of "Canal and casino", but tourism that takes advantage of and empowers the country, reaching all the provinces and regions. 

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  Culture was the great absentee of WYD. No one found out that the city of Panama, celebrates its 500th anniversary in 2019, There were no museums available for pilgrims since the Canal Museum in Casco Viejo Antiguo inaccessible due to the events on the Cinta Costera which also affected the Biomuseo., the Museum of Contemporary Art is not friendly to pedestrians and backpackers. Pilgrims wanted to bring books and music from Panama, but there was no offer.

* Deputies were publicly rejected. It is clear that even the Vatican knows their its antics. 

* State Protocol and Ceremonial should be professionalized. The officers charged with the responsibility must be invisible and learn to say no. On at least three occasions, the security of Pope Francis was set aside when deputies wanted to get closer For example, when it was wanted to allow the proximity of the deputies to the exit of the church San Francisco de Asís, and the Cathedral Basilica Santa María la Antigua, and the arrival and the farewell at Tocumen.airport  Protocol officers have to learn to say "no" to politicians.  

*  Pope Francis brought an inclusive message. He embraced and effusively celebrated the representatives of the different religions practiced in Panama. The pontiff visited a center for juvenile offenders and a facility that serves people with HIV / AIDS. The discriminatory discourse against the United Nations, ranting against Sandra Sandoval and attacking the gay lobby comes from local priests who are tuned to another agenda. Take care they don't lose all the goodwill that the Catholic Church received.

Aftermath Now we return to the country of before. Hopefully, we do not fall back The obstacles are a lack of courtesy in handling chat, aggressiveness, and disorder. The absence of good manners in public offices is a personal decision, as is throwing garbage into the street or other barbarities typical of our daily lives. The sun dad (Saint Francis of Assisi, was called the "sun brother") brought us an opportunity to know the best side of Panamanians, the only influencers that can change that for good or for bad this reality are ourselves.

 

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