Friday
Friday 17th January 2025.
January 16, 2025
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that Panamanian sovereignty over the Panama Canal “will not change,” despite President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to regain U.S. control of the waterway.
“We have a treaty and a policy in place for many years and that is not going to change. As I said before, it is not worth spending time on this,” he concluded at his last press conference before leaving office.
His response was similar to the one he gave last week in Paris when he was questioned about Trump’s plan to annex Greenland to the United States.
“It is not worth spending time on this issue because it is not going to happen,” he said at the time.
Blinken’s comments come a day after his nominee, Marco Rubio, suggested that China’s influence over the Panama Canal constitutes a violation of the terms of the canal’s handover to Panamanians.
Rubio, the incoming secretary of state in the Trump administration, warned during his Senate confirmation hearing that this is “a very legitimate issue” for the United States, although he opened the door to dialogue with Panamanian authorities.
“Panama is a great partner in many other issues, and I hope we can resolve this issue of the canal and its security,” he said. “Although technically sovereignty over the canal has not been handed over to a foreign power, in reality a foreign power today has, through its companies, which are not independent, the ability to turn the canal into a bottleneck in a time of conflict,” he added.
The Minister of Economy and Finance , Felipe Chapman, said on Thursday, January 16, that the central government has complied with the entire process for the approval of the reforms to the law of the Social Security Fund (CSS), including meetings and detailed explanations with the deputies, since the working groups were set up in the Presidency of the Republic. However, he stressed that five months have passed and the bill has not been approved even in the first debate in the National Assembly.
His statements were made at the weekly press conference called by President José Raúl Mulino at the Palacio de las Garzas, where he spoke about the need to approve pension reforms as soon as possible, given the lack of funds in the exclusively defined benefit subsystem, on which more than 200,000 retirees depend.
He said that the responsibility for the project rests with the National Assembly, which must “do its part, after we have fulfilled our commitment to the country of not ignoring an inherited problem that has been addressed and attacked by the Government.”
The working groups at the Presidency of the Republic were set up in September 2024 and the project was presented to the National Assembly on November 6 of last year.
“We have been dealing with this issue for more than five months and still not even the first block of articles in the first debate has been approved,” Chapman claimed, adding minutes later that the National Assembly is sovereign. “We cannot get involved in how they discuss the law,” he said. His hope is that the project will be approved this January.
The Minister of Economy spoke about the repercussions of not approving the reform.
If the bill is not passed, the economy would grow vegetatively, with poor growth in employment and wages. Informality would increase, there would be fewer employees on contract and more workers in the informal sector, which would generate greater instability. This would lead to an increase in poverty and make it even more difficult to fight poverty effectively.
The President of the Republic, José Raúl Mulino , sparked controversy when he stated forcefully on Thursday, January 16: “I will not pay a ransom for the kidnapping in which this law is found,” in reference to the delay in the discussion of the reforms to the Social Security Fund (CSS).
His words provoked a reaction from the leaders of the National Assembly’s Committee on Labor, Health and Social Development . Both its president, Alaín Cedeño, and its vice president, Yarelis Rodríguez, responded to the statement, evidencing the growing political tension surrounding a proposal that seeks to resolve the crisis of one of the pillars of the country’s social security system.
Rodríguez, a deputy from the Vamos coalition, strongly rejected accusations that the CSS reform law is “hijacked,” as the president claimed. “Number one, this is not hijacked. We are doing our job responsibly so that a document is issued that is worthwhile for the CSS, the insured and all its users,” she declared.
He also stressed that the president does not have to “pay absolutely anything.” According to Rodriguez, the commission is working seriously and in the time it considers appropriate, holding key meetings to advance the proposed law in a conscious and consensual manner.
For his part, Cedeño, a deputy for the Realizing Goals party, recalled that the initiative reached the Assembly chamber supported only by the National Council of Private Enterprise (CONEP), while another 11 organizations said they had not been consulted. “The correct and sensible thing was to listen to the Panamanian people, and that is why we carried out the necessary consultations, a process that the population has supported,” he said. He also explained that, after completing these consultations, each party presented its proposals, which were organized into blocks for discussion and approval in an orderly and responsible manner.
The deputy stressed that the process has been transparent and agile, emphasizing that “there was no way we could approve this project without reading it and knowing what the population wanted.”
In response to the presidential statements, he assured that there are no conditions or exchanges for the approval of the law. “There is no kidnapping nor are we asking for anything in return. Everything has been done with the objective of guaranteeing a document that responds to the needs of the country. We have to learn to live in democracy, and that is the separation of powers,” he concluded.
The general director of the Agricultural Marketing Institute (IMA) , Nilo Murillo, announced the implementation of a control system based on the QR code of the identity cards to include the NIC or NAC of the residential electricity bill, with the aim of guaranteeing that subsidized agricultural products, such as rice, are purchased exclusively for family consumption.
This is a measure to strengthen control over the distribution of subsidized products and combat irregularities detected in the program.
He explained that by matching the NIC or NAC of the electricity bills with the QR codes on the ID cards, it is guaranteed that the product is purchased for family consumption.
Currently, “three or four people from the same house can go, but when it is paired (the NIC or NAC) with the QR code, it will be marked there. We are trying to carry out a pilot to give a little more balance to the IMA in sales.”
During the presentation of her management report, Murillo also announced that she will soon present a bill that “establishes criminal liability” for those businesses that sell subsidized rice.
“I am not going to be played by inns, hotels, or any Chinese, or anyone else (…). Under no circumstances can the State invest money and have that money sold by a Chinese person in a store,” he stressed.
On Monday, November 25, 2024, Murillo filed a complaint after products from the entity were detected in grocery stores and restaurants. So far, seven businesses have been identified that engaged in this practice.
Using this new tool, electricity system users will be able to verify whether the charges applied to their bills actually correspond to the recorded consumption and whether the legal discounts established for this sector are taken into account.
The National Public Services Authority (ASEP) announced that the platform will be available through an online link: asep.gob.pa/verificador-de-factura-electrica/ .
The agency explained that the tool allows users to verify the amounts of the electricity bills of customers with a Simple Low Voltage (BTS) rate throughout the country. To use it, users must select the name of the company providing the distribution service, the rate, the month to consult, the year, the consumption and specify whether they are retired or not. Once this information is completed, they will be able to access the link.
ASEP explained that, after following all the steps, the following information will be displayed:
- Current charges for the BTS rate of ENSA, Edemet and Edechi. Current state contributions (Tariff Stabilization Fund – FET and Western Tariff Fund – FTO).
- Discounts granted by Law 6 of June 16, 1987 (for retirees) and Law 15 of February 7, 2001 (subsidy for basic or subsistence consumption).
The platform will generate the calculations related to the query made by the user about his/her bill.
Zelmar Rodríguez Crespo, general administrator of ASEP, said that if people find any irregularities in their bill, they have the right to file a complaint with the company providing the service and, subsequently, at the offices of ASEP.
This process can also be carried out through the immediate response virtual assistant (RINA), available to users through the line 6271-2230 (WhatsApp), or through the mobile offices that are part of the “ASEP closer to you” project , made up of two mobile units that travel to the busiest points in the country.
The deputy administrator of the Panama Tourism Authority (ATP), Jorge Correa, confirmed this Thursday, January 16, that resources have not yet been allocated for the celebration of the capital city’s carnival in 2025.
His statements were made on the radio program 180 Grados, hosted by Álvaro Alvarado, where he was asked for an update on this issue. Correa responded that “we still have nothing, the authorities do not have the budget allocated for this.”
In the capital city, the carnivals are organized by the ATP, in collaboration with various entities and sponsors from the private sector. This celebration offers a mix of local traditions, parades and artistic presentations, focused on local and international tourism, with the idea of boosting tourism.
In August 2024, President José Raúl Mulino complained about the misinterpretation that had been made on social media and in some media that the carnivals would not be celebrated in Panama City due to lack of resources.
However, in a conversation from the Presidency of the Republic, Mulino said: “I do not remember having talked about carnivals, I do not know where this came from, I have not talked about carnivals, and even less in August. If we were in January, maybe, but I have not talked about carnivals anywhere. I do not know where they got that from,” said the president.
Carnival is celebrated the first week of March, specifically from March 1 to 4. That means that the Government would have a month and a half to organize the festivities, which includes the participation of troupes, floats (if they are available), the location of the artistic stages and the hiring of musicians, among other aspects.
Nadkyi Duque, representative of the Chamber of Tourism and president of the board of the 2024 carnival, recalled that the ATP, as the main entity, must establish the guidelines and confirm the budgetary availability to begin preparations.
Without a presidential decree providing for an allocated budget, it is not possible to move forward with planning.