Monday
Monday 10th July 2023.
July 9, 2023
Two incidents were reported on Saturday, July 8, one day before the start of the Cambio Democrático (CD) primaries, although it is not yet known who is responsible and what their motivations are.
Yesterday afternoon, a small bus carrying personnel from the Tribunal Electoral (TE) was followed by a white private vehicle, which was later abandoned and towed away by the Land Transit and Transportation Authority (ATTT).
“The car was chased and close to being hit,” said the TE magistrate, Alfredo Juncá.
Juncá also recounted that on Saturday, in another event apparently unrelated to what happened with the entity’s bus, a group of people was surprised while trying to deactivate the surveillance cameras that are at the back of the TE headquarters, in Ancón. .
Romulo Roux has obtained the candidacy of the CD party, and says he has “no doubt” that Ábrego will probably challenge the election, even though the numbers are strongly in his favor.
Osman Valdés, director of the Electoral Organization of the TE, informed Roux that he had unofficially won the primary and, therefore, is the CD presidential candidate in the May 5, 2024 election. Having being told of his triumph his message to the followers of Yanibel Ábrego. “They took advantage of the needs of Panamanians to tell you who to vote for,” he said. He announced that today Monday, he will meet with the presidents of the other political parties. “Everyone has already congratulated me.”
Pais President José Alberto Álvarez was at the Westin, where Roux celebrated with his supporters. Ana Giselle Rosas, Génesis Arjona, Edwín Zúñiga, Hernando Abraham Carrasquilla, Juan Carlos Illueca, among others, were also giving their support.
He went on to say “At the national level, there were doubts that we could succeed… that we could face this corrupt and clientelistic machinery, because it is not just a Capira deputy,” Roux acknowledged. “This victory is against Ricardo Martinelli and his entire political party, against the PRD and its candidate, against Benicio Robinson, against the Legislative, against the Executive and against anyone who wants to maintain a corrupt system… This it is a triumph against parallel decentralization, against the attempt to buy votes…”, said Roux.
Where is this leaving the Realizando Metas (RM) , the party founded two years ago by the former President of the Republic, Ricardo Martinelli , was seeking leadership in the Cambio Democrático (CD) primaries , with whom there is currently no electoral alliance.
During the election in the voting center installed in the Dominican Republic general basic school, in Antón, Coclé province, the presence of members of RM has been reported, with T-shirts from the campaign of the deputy and presidential pre-candidate of CD, Yanibel Ábrego . The fact was even documented by the deputy Ana Giselle Rosas, on her social networks.
“They are trying to interfere in our internal process,” Rosas told reporters afterwards.
In the CD primaries, the participation and entry of people who are not party members less than 50 meters from the voting centers is prohibited, “a situation that results in provocations and that can cause at some point physical and verbal confrontations that they significantly cloud the internal process of our party ”, reads Resolution 19 issued by the National Commission for Internal Elections (CNEI) of CD, on March 13, published in Electoral Bulletin 5299-B of March 16, 2023 .
“Measures are being taken, taking note, to exclude those who do not have to be there from at the venues,” said magistrate Eduardo Valdés.
The CNEI has already warned the Directorate of Electoral Organization of the Electoral Tribunal (TE) about the interference of members of other groups.
Martinelli accompanied Ábrego to cast her vote, at the Federico Boyd school, in Capira. Also with them was Luis Eduardo Camacho, spokesman for Martinelli and candidate for deputy in San Miguelito for RM.
Ábrego has said on several occasions that she wanted to make an alliance with RM and that she supports Martinelli’s aspiration to govern again as of 2024. If so, Ábrego would be competing to be the presidential candidate of CD, with no intention of partaking in the general election on May 5, 2024.,
As for Roux he had already said that he does believe in political alliances, but not with RM or the PRD.
A slight improvement in the water level shows the Gatun and Alajuela lakes, said the executive director of the Institute of National Aqueducts and Sewers (Idaan), Juan Antonio Ducruet. According to the latest report, the Gatún registered 79.68 feet (24.29 meters), while the Alajuela presents 208.71 feet (63.61 meters) above sea level.
Ducruet explained that the reservoirs still has low levels, since for proper operation it is required that in the case of Alajuela, where the water intake of the Chilibre water treatment plant is located, it must be above 215 feet. However, he said that the situation has been managed by offering potable water service to the capital city.
The official stressed that despite the perception of rain in the country, it could take until August for the levels of the reservoirs to recover, so that the raw water pumping teams feel comfortable. But he considered that the key is that it rains on the Canal basin, that is, on the upper part of the Chagres River, and on the basin that supplies Gatun Lake.
“Yes, we have risen, we were below 204 feet above sea level, which means that Lake Alajuela rose about four feet, with that we have managed to recover the operating level of the Federico Guardia Conte water treatment plant, located in the corregimiento of Chilibre, up to a certain point”, affirmed the director of Idaan.
The Gatun and Alajuela lakes are the two reservoirs that are fed by the rains that fall in the Panama Canal Hydrographic Basin and that supply raw water to the water treatment plants that supply approximately 2.5 million inhabitants of the country, concentrated in the provinces of Panama, Colon and West Panama.
The Mayor’s Office of Panama put out to public bidding the restoration and improvement project of the administrative offices that operate in the Demetrio H. Brid Municipal Palace, located in the Old Town.
This tender has a reference price of $351,076.18 and offers must be submitted on July 28, 2023.
In that building, built around 1910, is the Municipal Council. It has 5 floors comprised of a ground floor, two upper floors, a mezzanine, a roof terrace and a dome.
There the representatives of corregimientos of the city hold their meetings. There is also a small museum in the building.
According to the Mayor’s Office, various restorations have been carried out on it. However, the deterioration that it presents with the passing of time is evident.
The contractor that wins the contract must restore some areas such as the roof, the dome area, the wooden baseboards, doors, bathrooms, kitchen, plumbing, ceiling, stairs, among others.
“It is necessary to improve its facilities by providing greater security, comfort and maintaining the essence of the building as it is one of the oldest buildings in the Old Town, all this in order to extend the useful life of each of the elements that make up the building” , stated the Municipality.
Panama was the master, owner and lord of the match by defeating Qatar 4-0 and advancing to the semifinal of the 2023 Gold Cup.
Those led by Thomas Christiansen played their best game so far in this competition, presenting no danger of losing control of the match.
La Roja opened the scoring after 19 minutes, when Édgar Yoel Bárcenas hit a header from a cross from Erick Davis.
Bárcenas drew attention in the starting eleven, being placed as a right back. The man from Colón did not disappoint in the attack and the mark, in which he was always there to support Fidel Escobar.
From then on, the Panamanian forwards generated several opportunities, but they could not materialize, although they controlled the thread of the game until the whistle at the end of the first part.
In the second half, Qatar came out aggressive to get into the game and look for an equalizer, but crashed into the trade of Andrés Andrade and Escobar, who put an end to the rival’s aspirations.
At that moment, the party for Ismael Díaz began, who only needed nine minutes (56′, 63′ and 65′) to end the hopes of Carlos Queiroz’s pupils. With this result, La Roja qualified for the fifth time in the Gold Cup semifinal, the first since the 2015 edition. Wednesday’s rival will come out of this Sunday’s match between the United States and Canada.
“They have played as a team, everyone always fighting. They did very well and now we have to think about the semifinals. I think in the second half there were about 10 minutes that we weren’t very good,” Christiansen said after the game.
“We have a very good team, they are hungry to do big things. We will always go out to win. Today was a first step”, expressed Díaz, who was chosen as the Man of the Match by the ESPN network.