Friday
Friday 11th July 2025
July 10, 2025
Officials from the Electoral Tribunal (TE) visited the National Assembly on Thursday, July 10, to formally notify Representative Paulette Thomas, who is facing a recall request.
The TE staff contacted the Vamos representative in her office, located on the third floor of the building that houses the representatives’ offices.
“This is definitely 100% political, and it’s unfortunate that the coup came from someone who belongs to the Vamos coalition,” he said.
The person managing the recall of the representative from circuit 8-3 is Rubén De La Rosa , a member of Vamos and who was her running mate in the campaign leading up to the elections of May 5, 2024.
“He failed to realize his aspiration to become a deputy,” she added.
Recall is a participatory democracy mechanism that allows citizens to request the removal of an elected official if they believe they have violated the principles under which they were elected. In the case of freely nominated deputies, this process can be initiated by the signatories who endorsed their candidacy, as established by the Electoral Code .
The Electoral Tribunal must first verify the admissibility of the request and, if appropriate, authorize the collection of signatures to bring the case to a possible final decision.
Although the process does not imply automatic dismissal, the formal notification marks the beginning of a key stage in the evaluation of the citizen’s complaint.
If this goes ahead, it could result in the loss of the position if all the established legal and participation requirements are met.
Mixed party deputy Manuel Cheng , former Vamos member , is also among those wanted for recall.
In an interview with La Prensa, Neftalí Zamora , a representative from the Vamos coalition , addressed the recent notifications of revocations of mandates for representatives elected through independent nomination, including his colleagues Paulette Thomas and Manuel Chen Peñalba.
Although he has not been notified, he acknowledged that a recall effort against him has been underway for some time, driven, he said, by a former official linked to former congressman Tito Rodríguez. “I have no aversion to accepting this process,” he stated, noting that he sees it as an opportunity to confirm whether the voters of North Panama continue to feel represented by his administration.
Zamora also criticized the interests behind the recall attempts. In his view, they are not driven by disaffected citizens, but by political figures who were ousted from power.
“Today, the people seeking that position are former officials we removed from those positions,” he said.
He considered it to be a “political” act and not a legitimate movement.
Regarding the recent election of the Assembly’s new board of directors, Zamora described it as a tense but necessary process to advance urgent reforms. He said he supported Jorge Herrera’s candidacy for president of the legislature and emphasized that the parliamentary agreement reached does not imply a blank check, but rather a commitment conditioned on the fulfillment of a specific agenda.
This includes reforming internal regulations, eliminating “bottlenecks,” and promoting key projects in areas such as water, employment, and education.
The congressman also defended his proposal to regulate Airbnb-type tourist accommodations . Zamora noted that there are more than 13,000 such accommodations in the country, operating in a legal limbo that discourages investment.
“We want to regulate this market to attract investment and create jobs,” he said.
He also emphasized that his party aspires to chair strategic committees in the Assembly, such as Economy, Government, and Credentials.
The San Miguelito Mayor’s Office launched a Request for Information (RFI) as part of the preliminary study and market consultation on the “Solid waste collection, transportation, and final disposal service in the San Miguelito district.”
The objective is to gather data that will allow for the development of a specification for the future bidding process for this service.
Currently, the company Recicladora Vida y Salud San Miguel (Revisalud, SA) holds a concession contract with the Municipality of San Miguelito, which granted it exclusive rights to the collection, treatment, final disposal, and marketing of urban waste in the district 25 years ago. This contract expires in the next six months, specifically on January 18, 2026.
The mayor of San Miguelito, Irma Hernández, has initiated the process to replace Revisalud, SA once its contract expires. Therefore, on July 2, a RFP was published on the PanamáCompra portal for direct and indirect suppliers interested in participating in the market consultation for this service.
“This RFP is part of the market study being conducted by this entity to obtain information on the current state of the sector and the profiles of potential suppliers in the urban sanitation, environmental innovation, and solid waste management sectors. It should be noted that this information will allow us to understand the strengths and limitations of the market with respect to the required technical specifications, as well as ensure greater participation by those interested in providing input to develop a tender document that integrates various aspects,” the document details.
The government, through the National Fund for Tourism Promotion (Promtur), reached an agreement for the Royal Caribbean cruise line to operate its homeport in Colón for a period of 18 months, that is, for two consecutive seasons.
This was announced by President José Raúl Mulino , who indicated that Promtur will contribute $200,000 for the cruise line to operate its home port from Colón.
“The director of Promtur informed me that an agreement was finalized yesterday to establish a home port in the Caribbean, specifically in Colombo, with Royal Caribbean Airlines for a period of 18 months. The State will contribute $200,000 to support this initiative, which will benefit the cruise tourism market in the region, one of the most attractive and in-demand segments worldwide.”
The President of the Republic did not specify whether the funds the State will provide to Royal Caribbean are part of a new incentive or if they are part of another budget allocation.
At the end of June, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MICI) eliminated the incentive given to cruise ships for operating as home ports in the country.
The repeal was justified because they did not generate the expected tourist arrivals that had been promised.
The Press sent inquiries to Promtur to find out where the funds will come from and what the agreement reached with Royal Caribbean is, as this company normally operates routes only in the Caribbean and does not pass through the Canal.
Panama officially submitted its candidacy for re-election to Category “A” of the Council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for the period 2026-2027.
This category is comprised of the ten countries with the greatest interest in the provision of international maritime services.
Panama will seek to renew its seat, competing against China, Greece, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Norway, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Russia , during the elections to be held in November of this year.
During the nomination, held this Wednesday, July 9, in London, United Kingdom, Panama’s ambassador and permanent representative to the IMO, Ginette Testa, highlighted the country’s track record as a global maritime power.
“With more than a century of experience registering vessels, our fleet exceeds 8,600 flagged vessels. Panama connects more than 140 maritime routes through the Canal, through which nearly 6% of global trade transits,” Testa stated.
He also highlighted the country’s port capacity, which handles 9.5 million TEUs (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units) annually, the standard measure used in the shipping industry to quantify container carrying capacity.
He also emphasized the country’s commitment to sustainable development: “Panama is projected to become Latin America’s green hydrogen hub, leading the drive for alternative fuels and clean technologies for decarbonized maritime transport.”
Panama has been a Category “A member of the IMO Council since 2003.
More than a ton of drugs was seized by security forces in operations carried out in the Pearl Islands, Tocumen International Airport, and an Atlantic port.
The first operation was carried out by the National Aeronaval Service (Senan) near the Casaya and Mogo Mogo islands, located in the Pearl Islands. During that operation, two vessels from Colombia were located, carrying 848 kilos of drugs.
One of the boats was intercepted near Casaya Island with a crew member, and the second boat was found half-sunken near Mogo Mogo Island; six people were arrested.
The second operation took place at Tocumen International Airport , when police units discovered 35 kilos of drugs hidden on a plane bound for Mexico. During this operation, a 51-year-old man was arrested.
Meanwhile, a search warrant conducted at a port on the Atlantic coast resulted in the seizure of 200 kilos of drugs inside a container.
The container, originating in Guatemala, was in transit to Spain. No arrests were reported in this case.
On Wednesday, in the so-called Operation Leyenda, the National Police and the Drug Prosecutor’s Office arrested 11 people involved in the introduction of drugs in containers in transit through the ports of the provinces of Colón and West Panama.
The operation began in March 2024, when authorities discovered the existence of a criminal group collaborating with drug trafficking networks to traffic drugs to the European market. In this operation, 1,351 kilos of cocaine were seized.
So far in 2025, authorities have seized more than 40 tons of drugs destined for Europe and the United States.
Although a ton may seem like a bulky load, it’s actually equivalent to about 1,000 pressed drug blocks, each weighing approximately one kilo, similar in size to a small brick. This entire shipment can be compacted into a volume of about 1.2 cubic meters, which would take up just enough space for two large car trunks or the bottom of a panel truck.