News
Thursday 1st August 2024.
July 31, 2024
The mayor of the San Miguelito district , Irma Hernández , filed a criminal complaint on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 31, for the alleged commission of the crime of illegal withholding of employer-employee contributions during the administration of former mayor Héctor Valdés Carrasquilla .
Hernández arrived accompanied by members of her legal team to the headquarters of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office to present the document in which she claims that many collaborators of the Municipality of San Miguelito had these fees deducted, but they were not deposited in the Social Security Fund.
He also explained that evidence was provided of the illegal retention of fees in the order of $2 million, despite having been deducted from municipal officials.
At the same time, Hernández accused the previous administration of making deductions authorized by municipal officials that were also not reported to financial institutions and banks, which could amount to the sum of $5 million.
He said that at this time there are officials who are facing lawsuits in banks for failure to pay for their residences, which were made through direct discounts that were not reported.
Among the evidence provided by Hernández to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office are notes from the CSS in which the Municipality of San Miguelito was required to formalize the payment of the employer-employee contributions.
He stated that the irregularities detected have caused serious problems for officials, since some pregnant women have not been able to collect their maternity checks, people with disabled children have not been able to attend their therapies and people of retirement age have not been able to complete this procedure because their contributions do not appear.
Hernández, who assumed the mayoralty of San Miguelito on July 2 after winning the elections on May 5, replaced Héctor de Valdés Carrasquilla of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, who dominated the commune for several periods.
Since he arrived at the Municipality of San Miguelito, Hernández has denounced a series of irregularities in the management of his finances, anomalies in the appointment of personnel and the existence of unfinished projects.
With the electoral records in hand, the Venezuelan opposition has claimed the victory of Edmundo González Urrutia , a trend that they say is irreversible and that was repeated not only in the more than 30 thousand voting tables in Venezuela, but also abroad.
From Panama, Ronald Figueroa, spokesman for the Movement with Venezuela, which brings together the opposition alliance formed by María Corina Machado to promote González’s candidacy, said that after midnight on Monday morning, they already had the results in the isthmus: Nicolas Maduro 16 votes, Edmundo González Urrutia 1,038 votes.
“ Of the 1,057 Venezuelans who went to vote in Panama, 1,038 votes were for Edmundo and only 16 voted for Nicolás Maduro , one vote for Ecarri, one vote for Brito and one spoiled vote.”
Figueroa says that the electoral documents were issued to Caracas and they kept the corresponding copies as required by the electoral law in that country. Therefore, they will continue to take to the streets demanding the counting of the votes and the recognition of the will of the people.
He recalled that in Panama only 1,816 Venezuelans were eligible to vote because more people were not allowed to register due to the obstacles that were imposed. “Only those who had permanent residence in Panama could register, and there were many with temporary residence.”
International air connectivity in Venezuela , which had recovered in recent months and registered a growth of 37% in May according to figures from the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA), will suffer a setback after the temporary suspension of flights between that country and Panama, the Dominican Republic and Peru.
The measure, which will take effect this Wednesday, July 31 at 8:00 pm, by initial orders of the Venezuelan National Institute of Civil Aeronautics (INAC) and to which the affected countries have adhered as a retaliatory measure, will leave nearly 15,000 weekly passengers grounded.
This was the warning issued by Marisela De Loaiza, president of the Association of Airlines of Venezuela (ALAV), who explained that a total of 95 weekly flights will be lost: 41 to the Dominican Republic; 47 to Panama and 7 to Peru.
“We are extremely concerned about the suspension of air operations by the Venezuelan aeronautical authority on routes to and from Panama and the Dominican Republic. These are two destinations that have historically been fundamental in the recovery of the country’s connectivity after the pandemic was overcome,” said De Loaiza, regretting that Peru has now joined this measure, with Latam’s operations temporarily paralyzed.
The president of ALAV said that this scenario worsens the forecasts for the recovery of the industry, which was waiting for the high season of school holidays in Venezuela, in August and part of September.
“ALAV respectfully requests the competent authorities to consider the inconveniences that are being caused to passengers and airlines, with unfavorable consequences for the entire tourism value chain, and to allow the connectivity that is so important for the country to be maintained,” the association said in a statement.
The Judicial Body announced the closure of the Second Liquidation Court of Criminal Cases in charge of Baloisa Marquínez , who as of August 1 will become a trial judge in the Accusatory Criminal System (SPA).
Through Agreement No. 414 of July 25, 2024, the Plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice ordered the closure of the Second Liquidation Court of Criminal Cases.
The agreement establishes that until Wednesday, July 31, 2024, the Second Liquidation Court of Criminal Cases of the First Judicial Circuit must fulfill its liquidation tasks and proceed to send its unfinished cases to the Single Entry Registry (RUE), so that they can be awarded to the First Liquidation Court of Criminal Cases of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama, which is in charge of Águeda Rentería.
The agreement also establishes that Marquínez will have among her duties to serve as an associate judge of the First Liquidation Court of Criminal Cases of the First Judicial District of Panama in the process known as Odebrecht , until its completion.
As of June of this year, the office headed by Marquínez has 269 files, of which 268 are for rebel prisoners and one is still active.
It was also reported that the Fourth Chamber of General Affairs instructed the Technical Secretariat of Human Resources to proceed with the relocation of the staff providing services in the Second Liquidation Court of Criminal Cases to other judicial offices.
Marquínez, during her tenure as second liquidator of criminal cases, was in charge of processing cases such as Blue Apple , New Business, Panama Papers , Lava Jato and Odebrecht , the latter of which has a trial date next November.
The Second Criminal Liquidation Court was specialized in the processing of money laundering offences.
Panama must work to overcome the weaknesses of its democratic system, especially in matters of transparency, institutionality and the fight against corruption.
This was expressed by the president of the Panamanian Association of Business Executives (Apede), Giulia De Sanctis , who began her speech on the evening of July 30 by lamenting what is happening in Venezuela, while drawing a parallel with the need to improve some institutional indicators in Panama, to strengthen democracy in areas such as transparency and the fight against corruption.
“Looking at our sister country, Venezuela, I take this opportunity to reiterate our support for the National Government in its decision to suspend diplomatic relations. This leads me to a reflection: what worries me most in Panama is the state of our democracy . No one ever thought that Venezuela would become the epicenter of a forced diaspora of more than eight million Venezuelans around the world, after having been a prosperous nation that, on the contrary, attracted important migratory flows, which contributed to the growth of that beautiful country,” he said.
In this regard, he stated that according to The Economist’s Democracy Index for 2023, Panama registers an index of 6.9 out of 10, categorized as a deficient democracy and occupies seventh place among 23 countries in Latin America.
He mentioned that part of this weakness lies in corruption. In addition, the country also comes out with a low rating in the functioning of the government. “ The law is used as a tool to weaken , delegitimize or neutralize an adversary or to obtain these specific political objectives,” he warned.
De Sanctis cited as an example of these failures the decision of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to dismiss prosecutors without due process, a Comptroller General of the Republic with a law that arbitrarily allows it to not conduct audits and thus, the corresponding criminal cases are dropped.
“A National Assembly that has as president of the Credentials Committee, which judges the magistrates of the CSJ, a lawyer of a convicted former president who does not accept his sentence, and a deputy who has just presented a bill to modify the concept of pardon, reductions in sentence and political crime in order to be eligible for an amnesty.” This was the warning he made when describing some cases that cause concern about the functioning of the institutions.
He said that the Apede board of directors for the years 2024-2025 will focus on transparency and institutionality.
He specifically stated that they will promote a new Transparency Law, which will foster democratic institutions.
The Panama Metro, SA strongly condemned any act of vandalism that damages this public asset.
In response to the recent graffiti incident on a carriage on Line 2, the company, through a press release, reported that it is carrying out an exhaustive investigation to clarify the facts.
Once the person responsible has been identified, a complaint will be filed with the competent authorities so that the corresponding sanctions can be applied.
The Panama Metro supports art through its Metrocultura program, but only in a planned, orderly manner and with the appropriate permits.