News
Thursday 5th June 2025.
June 4, 2025
The Comptroller General of the Republic, Anel Flores , announced that 15,000 teachers will not receive their salaries for the first half of June due to their participation in the strike that has been ongoing for more than a month in various regions of the country.
According to Flores, they have verified that these educators have not completed their work schedule since the start of the strike on April 23, and therefore, in accordance with audit regulations, their payment authorization has been suspended.
However, in response to criticism from teachers’ unions, who have described the measure as retaliation, he added that the Comptroller’s Office is willing to review each case. “This is not revenge. If teachers can prove they have attended work, they will be paid,” he stated.
However, the comptroller revealed an irregular situation: 82 union leaders who remain on strike have continued to receive their salaries. “This means someone is clocking in on their behalf, and that is a serious irregularity that we are investigating,” he warned.
Flores also indicated that there are currently 17,200 teachers waiting to be appointed , but there are no available positions because many of them are occupied by educators who “do not want to work,” he said, referring to those who are maintaining the strike.
He lamented that more than 500 days of classes have been lost in the last three years , a situation that, he said, translates into poor academic results when students apply to university courses.
“It’s a huge disadvantage for students and parents,” Flores asserted, while warning of the cumulative impact these disruptions have on the country’s educational development. “We are jeopardizing the future of an entire generation,” he added.
The comptroller did not clarify whether any type of discount had been given to teachers since the start of the strike. “That’s not for me to say. That’s a matter for the Ministry of Education. But there’s an article in the education law that establishes abandonment of work as a cause.”
Companies linked to Congressman Raúl Pineda and three people arrested as part of the anti-narcotics operation Jericó (including his son, Abraham Rico Pineda ) have reportedly received funds from the contractor of the San Miguelito Regional University Center (CRU), a project awarded five years ago for $65.9 million, but which is now worth almost $85 million.
The money transfers reportedly occurred even as Operation Jericho was already underway.
The HCG Consortium , led by Costa Rican Juan José Zonta and his partner Luis Alberto Gaitán Mendoza, is leading the project . Since 2020, Zonta has been a shareholder and president of Sporting San Miguelito, a soccer team that until then was headed by Representative Pineda, a member of the PRD (Republican Democratic Revolutionary Party).
The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) is handling reports of alleged suspicious banking transactions indicating that, in addition to Pineda, his son, and other individuals linked to Operation Jericó as beneficiaries, the HCG Consortium allegedly diverted funds to personal accounts linked to Zonta and Gaitán, in order to “capitalize” properties, high-end vehicles, and fixed-term deposits whose beneficiaries are the two partners.
“The question we have is this: if most of this money is still circulating in accounts in the Panamanian banking system, what money is being used to finance the [CRU] project?” states one of the reports in the hands of the First Drug Prosecutor’s Office.
Although the CRU project’s physical progress is 95%, reports estimate that less than 8% of the funds mobilized (the University of Panama makes payments based on the progress of the project) were allocated to paying for materials or suppliers.
One of the intelligence reports, dated September 2024, indicates that 80% of the money circulates in personal accounts or companies related to Zonta, Gaitán, Pineda, and his son Rico.
Gaitán—who describes himself as a “successful businessman”—denied any wrongdoing. He stated that “the transfers made there are solely and exclusively for matters related to the consortium, because the building is located there,” referring to the San Miguelito CRU.
He claimed to be unaware that the Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the consortium. Zonta said something similar, although he is aware of some of the Public Prosecutor’s Office’s investigations, since “the prosecutor’s office was present at the consulting firm as part of a collaborative review process.”
“Everything was well explained and supported, because we are not part of the accusation,” Zonta emphasized when contacted by La Prensa via telephone.
The socioeconomic crisis that has gripped Bocas del Toro since April 28, following the indefinite banana sector strike and blockades on the province’s main thoroughfares, has entered a new chapter.
Francisco Smith , general secretary of the Banana Industry Workers Union (Sitraibana) and a prominent figure in the struggle with the government of José Raúl Mulino over the reform of Law 462, must now answer before the Public Prosecutor’s Office for alleged crimes against public safety, common crimes, crimes against means of transportation, apology for crime, and crimes against the internal personality of the State.
He is blamed for the road closures that have kept communities in the districts of Changuinola, Chiriquí Grande, and Bocas del Toro under siege.
The information was released on Wednesday, June 4, two days after Diógenes Espinoza , leader of the National Union of Construction and Related Industry Workers (Suntracs), threatened to take over the province’s public offices, an action rejected by the Executive.
Senén Briceño , a Bocas del Toro journalist who last week reported cash payments to support the blockades and fuel a mobilization that has put life in the province at risk, filed a complaint against Smith and other alleged perpetrators of “civil disobedience.”
Briceño appeared before the Bocas del Toro Municipal Ombudsman’s Office this Wednesday and argued that the massive blockades are impeding the free movement of ambulances and citizens who need to travel to receive medical care, among other things. He also noted that the roadblocks, which have lasted more than 30 days, have led to clashes between citizens and “anarchic groups” who threaten those who demand their right to freedom of movement.
He claimed that the road closures have facilitated assaults, robberies, and even the discovery of a body in the Paraíso area of Almirante, a fact that is under investigation by the Public Ministry.
He added that the impossibility of free movement has led public transportation companies to suspend their services, preventing people from going to work, hospitals, schools, public offices, and businesses in general.
Finally, Briceño reported that ” Smith and his accomplices, through the media and social networks, have dedicated themselves to instigating and launching threats against citizens, the government, the banana company and journalists, inciting and provoking violence .”
Two men who attempted to evade a police checkpoint in the San Miguelito district in mid-May were recently captured after being accused of vehicle theft.
These are the same individuals who were involved in a videotaped argument with a National Police officer, which went viral on social media on May 15.
In the video, the suspects complained that the officer was pointing his gun at one of the vehicle’s tires. Children could be heard crying in the background. “There are children here. Oh, Dad, my children are here,” one of the men can be heard saying. The suspects prevented the officers from inspecting the vehicle due to the driver’s suspicious behavior at the time.
Commissioner Edgardo Núñez, National Director of Citizen Security, confirmed this Tuesday, June 3, that these are the same individuals who had evaded the police check.
He said that, on that occasion, they were found in the car with alarm jammers, also known as signal blockers, which are devices that interfere with the radio frequency signals used by vehicle security systems.
Núñez explained that, on the afternoon of June 2, in Centennial Plaza, these two people were arrested after being accused of stealing refrigeration equipment found inside a vehicle.
Representative Manuel Cheng officially joined the mixed caucus of the National Assembly on Wednesday, June 4, after leaving the Vamos coalition . Representatives from the Popular Party, the Alliance Party, and the Nationalist Liberal Republican Movement (Molirena) will be his new caucus colleagues.
Cheng, a representative for Circuit 13-1 in Arraiján, confirmed his second resignation from Vamos in a week. He did so after learning of the departure of Betserai Richards, also a former member of the independent candidate group.
While Richards campaigned without Vamos, Cheng did run for the coalition . However, disagreements over issues such as the Social Security Fund (CSS), and even legislative initiatives regarding amnesty, reportedly contributed to the Arraiján representative’s decision to leave the coalition.
However, in the statement in which Cheng announced his resignation from Vamos, he stated that he was leaving after “a process of deep and responsible reflection.”
“This decision has not been influenced by external factors, nor am I responding to pressure of any kind,” he stated in the statement.
Vamos’s leap to the Mixed Party is radical. While Vamos defined itself largely as the opposition during its first term in the Assembly, the Alliance Party, for its part, remains—as its name suggests—in alliance with the ruling Realizing Goals (RM) party, despite not forming a single bloc in the Legislature.
The mixed caucus is made up of representatives Osman Gómez and Johan Guevara of the Alliance Party; Eliécer Castrellón of the Popular Party; and Isaac Mosquera of the Molirena Party. Another name is expected to be added to the list: Cheng.
Cheng, who was elected as an independent candidate in Arraiján, will now join a group that brings together small but historic political parties in the country.
Despite party affinities , strategic alliances, and coalitions, there are no certainties. A clear example is Representative Patsy Lee. Despite winning her seat with the Popular Party, she is not part of the mixed caucus.
Thus, the legislative rearrangements will continue until the new term begins on July 1.