News
Thursday 12th May 2022.
May 12, 2022
For the second consecutive day, Panama exceeded 3,000 new infections of covid-19 , while positivity is above 20% and in the last hours 5 deaths have been registered due to the virus. The Ministry of Health (Minsa) reported this Wednesday that to date 3,324 new cases were confirmed after the application of 15,473 tests, which showed a positivity of 21.5%. In addition, the Department of Epidemiology of the Minsa details that in the last 24 hours 5 deaths were registered. Since the pandemic arrived in the country in March 2020, Panama has accumulated 8,199 deaths for a lethality of 1.03%. Regarding the active cases of coronavirus, it is specified that at the national level there are 18,644, of which 18,474 are in home isolation and 170 hospitalized. Those in isolation are divided into 18,433 at home and 41 in hotels. Those hospitalized are 149 in the ward and 21 in intensive care.
The metropolitan area of the capital city is one of the regions that is registering a significant increase in cases of covid-19 in recent weeks. According to the latest report from the Metropolitan Health Region, for this week 1,936 active cases are reported among the 23 districts. This reflects 995 more infections compared to the previous week. It is detailed that for Epidemiological Week 18 a positivity in the tests of 20% was registered, the Rt. was 1.11 and the lethality 1.40%.
For the third consecutive day, the protesters who support the general strike in the province of Colón confronted the crowd control agents in the Cuatro Altos area. In Colón, the third day of the general strike takes place, which was called by the members of the Coalition of Unity for Colón (CUCO), which demands the presence of President Laurentino Cortizo in the province. The Government of Colón established a curfew on Tuesday night from 11:00 pm to 4:00 am yesterday to avoid alleged acts of vandalism in commercial areas. “This strike is not lifted until the President comes to give us answers, if that does not happen the strike will continue,” said the leader Edgardo Voitier.
The Cabinet Council approved this Wednesday, allocating an item of $8 million in favor of the ATTT in order to face the rise in fuel in public transport. In a statement from the Presidency of the Republic it is reported that it is Cabinet Resolution 56-22 , in which resources are allocated for the sum of $8 million in favor of the Land Transit and Transportation Authority (ATTT). This subsidy will take the form of fuel bonuses, as part of the agreement reached by the ATTT management with the public transport leadership on March 30, in order to avoid an increase in the cost of the ticket for users.
The Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) revealed that on Wednesday afternoon that through the General Directorates of Ports and Auxiliary Maritime Industries and the General of the Merchant Marine, it will carry out an investigation to determine the origin of the fires between three vessels. in the area near the port of Vacamonte, in the province of Panamá Oeste. According to the AMP, preliminary reports indicate that at approximately 10:20 am this Wednesday a fire started on one of the ships belonging to the company Rocmar Seafood, SA
Guatemala’s Forfeiture Judge, Marco Antonio Villeda , signed the suspension of the embargo against the plane with registration number N799RM, owned by former President Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal, which had been sequestered more than 14 months ago in Guatemala. After learning of Judge Villeda’s decision, the Guatemalan Public Ministry issued a statement this Wednesday stating that the Panamanian authorities “have refused to provide information to establish the origin of the money with which the plane was purchased. For such a reason, it is impossible to conduct an objective investigation.” The note from the Department of Social Communication of the Public Ministry adds that “if the transaction was made through Panamanian entities, the possible illegal activity that was being investigated occurred in Panama and the property has a Panamanian flag, since Panama must be the most appropriate to undertake the investigation and determine the origin of the property.”
Interpol detained a Guatemalan accused of forced disappearances during the last civil war in Guatemala (1960-1996) at the Tocumen International Airport, in a case for which former soldiers and former police officers have just been sent to trial, official sources reported this on Wednesday. Retired military officer Toribio Acevedo, 68, was arrested on Tuesday night of this, at the Tocumen International Airport on charges of forced disappearance, murder and crimes against humanity, the Panama Police said on their network Twitter account. Acevedo is involved in the so-called “Diario Militar” , a case in which Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez sent nine former soldiers and former police officers to trial last Friday for the forced disappearance and extrajudicial execution of 183 people during the armed conflict in Guatemala. .
A court in San Miguelito resumed on Wednesday, the trial of the lawyer Zoraida Saucedo accused of the alleged commission of the crimes of homicide, illicit association and falsification of documents to the detriment of the 62-year-old Canadian Miomir Kotlica and the Panamanian Miguel Paéz de 27 years old, event that occurred in San Antonio, San Miguelito, in October 2017. Among the documentary evidence is a series of emails exchanged between Saucedo and one of the victims, to whom she gave advice on the purchase and sale of properties. The appearance of a notary was also requested, who is presumed to have legalized some transactions carried out by the transfer of some assets. The investigation carried out by the Prosecutor’s Office specifies that the lawyer entered into a business relationship with her clients, allegedly appropriated the property and then caused their death. The accused is also linked to the murders of María Elena Vallarino, 46 years old, and the Italian Furio Ferrari, 70 years old.
On April 28, a group of citizens of the capital filed a protection of constitutional guarantees against Municipal Agreement No. 24 of February 15, 2022, which authorized the mayor of Panama, José Luis Fábrega , to call the tender for the new seafood market. . The following day, the civil circuit judge Rosalba Sánchez ordered the Municipal Council of the district of Panama to suspend the said Municipal Agreement. In other words, the tender was suspended while the protection was decided. In what seems like an obvious challenge, the municipality of Panama has continued with the procedures for this tender, since it appears in Panama Compra and the Municipal Council itself published the suspended agreement in the Official Gazette on May 5.