Monday
Monday 2nd October 2023.
October 1, 2023
The candidate for president of the Republic for the Realizing Goals (RM) party, Ricardo Martinelli , pointed out this Sunday, October 1, on his social networks that the Electoral Court (TE) rejected the nomination of Marta Linares de Martinelli as his partner. formula for the 2024 elections.
“Today the process was opened in which all parties can enter their candidates into the so-called Plagel of the Electoral Tribunal. It caused us a lot of surprise that we entered a huge number of candidates, including the candidate for vice president, Marta de Martinelli, and she was rejected,” said the leader of the Realizing Goals Party, in a video that lasts 45 seconds.
The former president (2009-2014) also stressed that he would not like to think that this has to do with the “political persecution” that according to him has been mounted and that he is going to engage in the electoral process, which he hopes will be as “clean and transparent as possible.” .
In addition to Martinelli, the president of the Alianza Party, José Muñoz Molina, appears in the video, who recently formed a collation with Realizing Goals, for next year’s general elections. Also Alma Cortés, one of his lawyers and co-partisans.
On September 24, Martinelli announced that Marta de Martinelli would be his candidate for vice president for next year’s elections.
One of those who reacted to the issue was the TE magistrate, Alfredo Juncá.
“As long as there is a possibility that this case reaches the plenary session [of the Electoral Tribunal], the magistrates should not make statements about it,” he indicated.
The former president of the Republic, Juan Carlos Varela (2014-2019) , who is seeking a seat within the controversial Central American Parliament (Parlacen) , assured this Sunday, October 1, that this regional body “does not provide immunity.”
“Parlacen defines the jurisdiction or the body that investigates the deputy, it does not give immunity to anyone,” he assured in statements to TVN Noticias .
According to Varela, being a Parlacen deputy is like being a deputy of the National Assembly. It must be remembered that the deputies are investigated by the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ).
He indicated that when he left the presidency, in 2019, the rule indicates that he could enter Parlacen immediately as former president.
“Let me be clear: I have not sworn in at Parlacen. I have stood by my decision not to take the oath. “I decided to stay in the country… this process (Odebrecht) came out and I have faced this process with my head held high,” he said.
Varela went this Sunday to the José Daniel Crespo school, Chitré, to cast his vote in the Ordinary National Convention of the Panameñista Party, in which they choose the candidates who will represent them in Parlacen.
There are 1,500 conventional candidates who will choose a total of 10 candidates.
Varela has as his substitute the current Panamanian representative of the National Assembly, Itzi Atencio, from circuit 8-6, made up of Pedregal, Pacora, San Martín, Tocumen, Las Mañanitas, 24 de Diciembre and Las Garzas.
The functioning of a judicial system and respect for the law constitute the main indicator of the health of a society, but if that justice is deficient and any achievements of the country, such as a high Gross Domestic Product or foreign investments, are ignored, it has no real meaning. .
This was stated by the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Panama (Cciap) this Sunday, October 1, through its weekly statement.
“Recent high-profile cases in our country have highlighted the need to continue working to improve our system of administration of justice and strengthen the rule of law,” the union indicated.
For the Cciap, it is “worrying” that Panama continues to face a vulnerable justice system, which often allows impunity to those who systematically challenge it.
“Unfortunately, over the years, we have witnessed how the blatant theft of state resources goes unpunished due to our weakened institutions,” he highlighted.
For the country, this situation “is not a minor problem, added the Cciap, since this “criminal behavior and constant disregard for the law have consequences that go far beyond the courts, affecting the quality of life of an entire population, the country’s infrastructure and the quality of public services.”
“Without reliable and expeditious justice, social and economic stability becomes unattainable,” he added.
This week the Cciap will hold the forum of the Country Agenda Project 2024 – 2029, focused on a transparent, efficient and participatory institutional framework, in which they will highlight the importance of the balance of public powers, the promotion of trust and stability, impartial justice, clear rules for all actors and constant legal security.
They also plan to review specific proposals, such as the “imminent departure from our country” of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen), a regional organization that “does not prove to provide real contributions to the future of Panama and on the contrary has become a shell of impunity after the which politicians and figures involved in high-profile cases hide behind.”
Another high-profile trial has been scheduled for 2024. It involves the process followed by 196 people for alleged embezzlement in bus compensation during 2010 and which, according to the investigation by the Public Ministry, caused a financial loss of $24 million in detriment of the State.
The liquidating judge of criminal cases, Agueda Rentería, set the date for the trial to be from June 3 to August 30 of next year.
It must be remembered that the State allocated at least $98 million in compensation to the concessionaires and owners of “red devil” buses to make way for the MetroBus system.
However, according to the investigation by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, many bus owners were compensated on more than one occasion and people who did not provide transportation service in the metropolitan area of Panama City were also paid.
The prosecutor’s office detected that some vehicles provided service in the interior of the country and not in the capital, which was a requirement to participate in the “administrative rescue” program.
In this process there are 22 people who are fugitives, so the court issued instructions to the National Police to locate them and to take them to explain their participation in these events.
Some 742 packages of drugs were seized northeast of Mensabé, in the province of Los Santos.
As a result of this incident, three people were arrested.
When they noticed the presence of the officials, they threw the illicit substance into the sea; however, they were able to be arrested.
This action was carried out by personnel from the Los Santos Drug Prosecutor’s Office in conjunction with the National Aeronaval Service.
Those arrested were placed under the orders of the corresponding judicial authorities.
The Minister of Security, Juan Manuel Pino , stated this Saturday that with the maritime blockade, especially in the Caribbean, at least 24 boats used for illegal activities have been seized in recent weeks, including the illegal trafficking of migrants.
In a tour of the Puerto Obaldía sector (Guna Yala), on the border with Colombia, Pino said that since Operation Shield was launched, 24 boats have been stopped, of which 12 were illegally transporting migrants.
He stated that the people who were dedicated to this illegal activity (the so-called coyotes) were placed under the orders of the Public Ministry.
“Boats also have to do with drug trafficking, smuggling and other related crimes,” said Pino, who added that boats that were carrying out other tasks in Panamanian territory without the corresponding permits were also seized.
The head of Security highlighted that the maritime blockade is working because the number of people using this route has decreased in the months of August and September.
He added that this is part of the efforts made by the security forces to control irregular migration through the Darién jungle and combat organized crime in the Gulf of Urabá.
“What comes to us from the Gulf of Urabá? Smuggling, drug trafficking; In a week and a half, more than 6 tons [drugs] have been seized in the Caribbean. We have detected boats that bring us pills, which have to do with a sleep drug, which here in Panama very little exists. “We are making all these efforts to counter organized crime,” said Pino.
With the crisis in the region due to irregular migration, Panama began to carry out a series of measures to control this flow of people through the Darién Gap and one of them is the maritime blockade on both sides to stop illegal human trafficking. .
This year the authorities have rescued 581 migrants from different nationalities and detained about 50 people, including Panamanians and Colombians, involved in illegal human trafficking