News
Tuesday 6th August 2024.
August 5, 2024
The closure of the copper mine , located in the districts of Donoso and Omar Torrijos, Colón, was part of the agenda of the Cabinet Council of President José Raúl Mulino that took place on July 16.
The president asked ministers involved in disasters and related issues to prepare for the months in which heavy rains are forecast. Mulino’s words came after the Environment Minister, Juan Carlos Navarro , reported that the area is at risk due to slopes, exposed material and other components that could cause environmental damage to the area and nearby communities
In recent days, Navarro has insisted that the copper concentrate remaining at Minera Panama must be removed from the area “in the short term.”
“There is a huge risk with the copper concentrate that is in the mine, it must be removed as soon as possible. That concentrate will have to be ground again, as explained by technical experts; I have not been able to speak with the people at the mine. President Mulino said that this issue will be discussed next year, but in the short term a management plan presented by the company is about to be approved so that what is in the area is maintained safely,” Navarro said at the end of last July.
At Mulino’s meeting with his ministers, Navarro also reported that they need to hire auditors for the evaluation they will do at the mine and explained that he had already met with the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Julio Moltó , to establish a program for the audit.
Like Navarro, Moltó advocated for a decision to be made on the material (copper concentrate) and added that there are international institutions that are willing to participate in this process.
Another person who joined the conversation was the Minister of Health, Fernando Boyd Galindo . He said that he will send a team to inspect the area, in order to verify the warning from the communities about possible contamination in the zone.
Mulino insisted that it is necessary to anticipate anything that may happen in the area. He asked: How long does the audit last?
The Environment Minister responded that it would take between three and six months. He announced that he would request a citizen oversight committee in which “prestigious” organizations would participate. At the beginning of the meeting, Navarro said that there are sectors that advocate the definitive closure of the mine and others that advocate its reopening.
The Minister of Public Security, Frank Ábrego, commented on the latter issue . He said that “a large part” of the community “supports the closure.”
However, he added, there are “dangers of different kinds.” In addition to the environmental danger, he mentioned illegal mining, which he said “already existed” but has increased.
One month and five days later, the deputy for circuit 8-2 (San Miguelito), Luis Omar Ortega , assumed his seat in the National Assembly this Monday, August 5 , after facing an impeachment process, following the result of the elections last May 5.
Ortega was the only deputy who did not take up his legislative post on July 1, which is why the plenary session was held with 70 deputies.
On August 1, it was reported that the Electoral Tribunal (TE) proclaimed Ortega as deputy for circuit 8-2 and Juan Domingo Díaz Concepción as his alternate .
The proclamation of Ortega, of the Realizing Goals (RM) party, came after the plenary session of the TE rejected the appeal filed by former deputy Zulay Rodríguez against the decision of the Second Administrative Electoral Court to reject a challenge against Ortega’s proclamation.
In the elections of May 5, Rodríguez also ran unsuccessfully for two other positions: mayor of San Miguelito, for the RM party, and president of the Republic under the banner of independent candidacy.
This Monday, August 5, at the start of the plenary session of the legislative assembly, the first vice president of the Assembly, Didiano Pinilla, was in charge of swearing in Ortega and his substitute.
The Electoral Tribunal ‘s (TE) computer system received 31.5 million cyberattacks on May 5, the day the general elections were held and 3,004,083 Panamanians were called to the polls.
This is 58.5 million fewer attacks than the system received in the 2019 elections, when the TE received 90 million attacks.
“During the development of the electoral process on May 5, we perceived that attack vectors such as phishing , exploitation of vulnerabilities, ransomware and denial of services were some of the events that were received,” the entity stated in a report on the recent electoral process.
“The monitoring and actions of our controllers succeeded in blocking these attacks during the electoral process,” the TE added.
“The most common thing was to try to take down our website and produce what is called denial of services,” but they were unable to do so, said Judge Eduardo Valdés Escoffery, president of the 2024 General Election Plan.
Valdés Escoffery and his colleagues Alfredo Juncá and Luis Guerra Morales, held a press conference last Wednesday to present the report on the last elections.
“The traceability of the origins and destinations to which the attacks were being directed was maintained, events that were blocked in their entirety, keeping the technological platform available and secure,” the report on the elections reads.
Last February, three months before the electoral tournament, this media outlet revealed that penetration tests on the networks and servers of the TE demonstrated the existence of cracks that, if not addressed in time, could have compromised the security of the election results.
The National Police reported the arrest of a man who was transporting 200 packages of suspected drugs in a tanker truck.
The action was carried out during a verification operation at the Guabalá comprehensive post, in the province of Chiriquí.
At the scene, police inspected the suspect’s vehicle and discovered that two of the truck’s six compartments contained the suspected illicit substance. The detainee, of Panamanian nationality, was placed at the disposal of the competent authorities.
Investigations into this case are continuing.
The Panama Canal is taking a new approach to reduce its environmental impact and promote more sustainable practices in the shipping industry. Starting January 1, 2025 , ships that meet certain standards will receive preferential treatment when transiting the route.
This was reported on August 1 by the operations manager of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) , Boris Moreno, in a note to the waterway’s customers.
The ACP will begin to offer, through an auction, an exclusive transit space for Neopanamax vessels that meet the criteria of the Panama Canal green vessel classification .
This exclusive space will be available for auction 30 days prior to the scheduled transit date.
This is a pilot plan designed to encourage the transit of vessels equipped with energy-efficient technologies or alternative fuels, thus contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
“We believe that this step will not only support our environmental objectives, but also promote sustainable practices within the maritime industry,” Moreno told the shipping companies.
In March 2023, the ACP informed all maritime agents, owners and operators of the characteristics that a vessel must have to be classified as green, as part of the commitment to carbon neutrality by 2030 and the “Green Route of the Panama Canal 2050” program. To do this, they identified three internationally recognized criteria: energy-efficient design, type of fuel used, and force in the displacement of the vessel.
“Thank you MY GOD. Thank you MY PANAMA. I LOVE REPRESENTING YOU.” With these words, Panamanian boxer Atheyna Bylon accompanies a series of images on her Instagram account, after her historic participation in the Olympic Games.
On Sunday 4 August, 35-year-old Bylon defeated Poland’s Elzbieta Wójcik on points, securing at least bronze and advancing to the semi-finals in the -75kg category at Paris 2024.
The first image of the post shows Bylon crying on the floor after the judges’ decision was announced. And no wonder. The member of the Panamanian National Police gave her country its fourth Olympic medal in its history and the first ever won by a woman. Thousands of users have responded to the message on Instagram, congratulating her on her achievement.
“It’s not easy, gentlemen, it’s not easy. You don’t know how much one suffers, how many adversities one has to endure,” Bylon said through tears after her victory.
After securing Panama’s first Olympic boxing medal, Bylon will face Cindy Ngamba in the 75-kilogram semifinal. The bout is scheduled for Thursday, August 8, at 3:00 p.m.