News
Tuesday 6th December 2022.
December 6, 2022
Francisco Carreira, presidential candidate for free postulation, went this Monday, to the offices for receiving complaints of the Public Ministry, located in the area of La Exposición, Bella Vista, to denounce through criminal proceedings the alleged manipulation of databases. data from the Electoral Tribunal, (TE). “We ask that the TE, the TE database be investigated. How is it possible that 641 signatures that correspond to the pre-candidate Zulay Rodríguez appear to me and that she appears as my activist? That doesn’t make any sense or logic. There were 641 signatures that appeared on my list on November 28. This constitutes a crime, according to the Penal Code of the Republic of Panama and is the manipulation of a database. That is the reason, we already filed the complaint with the Electoral Attorney General’s Office last Wednesday.” When asked about the investigations and audits carried out by the TE to the ‘App’, Carreira pointed out that his position drawn for signature review is number three. He also highlighted not having held meetings with the magistrates. “In my personal case I only have 43 signatures that are the ones that appeared, previously there were more, but we are going to review. I did not meet with magistrate Alfredo Juncá, yesterday was a session with Osman Valdés and Santana Díaz, Director and Deputy Director of Electoral Organization of the TE, on the dynamics of the verification of signatures.
A group of workers from the Justo y Bueno stores went to the vicinity of the Ministry of Labor and Labor Development to protest and demand that the company in charge of these establishments comply with the payment of pending wages, contributions to the Social Security Fund and social benefits. Keyla Argelis Lefranc, representative of the workers, reported that there are more than 300 people who have been left in limbo, after Inversiones Encanto SA declared the reorganization process unfeasible to rescue and save the company that for several months has been experiencing problems to operate , with a shortage of merchandise due to non-payment to suppliers, which in turn has led to the closure of the premises.Guillermo García Rivas, lawyer for 80 of the Justo y Bueno workers, reported that a collective lawsuit was filed with Mitradel for breach of article 215 of the Labor Code that establishes dismissal for economic reasons. García Rivas announced that precautionary measures will also be requested to seize the assets of Inversiones Encanto SA so that the commitments with the workers can be paid, which also includes the payment for more than a year and a half of the employer’s worker quota in the Caja del Social Security, which may lead to other legal actions.
“To the more than 500 teachers who challenged me yesterday to aspire to the Rectorship of the Autonomous University of Chiriquí for the period 2023-2028, I reiterate that I accepted the challenge.” Those were the words of the current rector of the Autonomous University of Chiriquí, (Unachi), Etelvina Medianero de Bonagas, when announcing that she would run for the position for a third consecutive term, until the year 2028. “Together: Teachers, Administrators and Students we continue to move forward, because with you we already won,” she added in the publication on her Instagram account. Rector Medianero De Bonagas was able to run for a third consecutive term at the head of Unachi, after the approval of Law 292, which modifies Law 4 of 2006, which reorganizes Unachi and allows the re-election of Medianero de Bonagas. In an interview with La Prensa , carried out in February of this year, before the approval of the Law, Medianero de Bonagas did not deny that there are relatives of her close collaborators working at the university, but she argued that she is not the one who decides who is hired and who is not. In addition, in the first instance, she denied having a relationship with the Universidad Iberoamericana, a house of studies based in David, Chiriquí, of which she was a founder, but after having consulted her about the presence of her daughter and her son-in-law on the board of directors of the same, Medianero de Bonagas called the site a family business.
The Ministry of Education (Meduca) plans to start the Academic Recovery Program on January 12, 2023, said Minister Maruja Gorday de Villalobos. It was reported that this recovery period will take place for three weeks and failed students will only be able to enroll in three subjects. Students who fail more subjects must repeat the year.According to the projections of the educational authorities, it is estimated that this school year could end with between 50,000 and 55,000 students failing, taking into account the grades obtained during the first and second quarters of the school year. Gorday de Villalobos said that once the graduation period ends, it is likely that the recovery of subjects will begin on January 12 or 13. “In the year 2021, the recovery that took place in January 2022, we had around 40,000 [students], if the figures remain as they are, that could reach 50 or 55,000,” said the head of Education.
The Dominican authorities intercepted a US-registered sailboat with 110 packages of cocaine off the coast of the municipality of Santo Domingo Este and arrested two Panamanians and one Israeli, the National Directorate for Drug Control reported on Monday. A statement from said agency specified that anti-narcotics agents and military personnel received an alert, “which immediately activated the maritime units that mobilized to the area and boarded the 36-foot-long sailboat (Acontista), with US registration.” Two Panamanians and one Israeli were detained, from whom radio communication and navigation equipment, cell phones and personal documents were also confiscated. The sailboat remained in the possession of the Public Ministry, while the authorities deepen the investigations in relation to the case, added the note. The cache was sent to the National Institute of Forensic Sciences, which will determine its exact weight.
The ambassador of the United States (EU) in Panama, Mari Carmen Aponte, visited the province of Darién. This, in order to learn “first-hand” about the challenges in managing irregular migration, reported the US Embassy in Panama this Monday, in a statement. Ambassador Aponte visited the facilities of the National Border Service in Metetí. She then toured the host community of Bajo Chiquito and the migrant shelter in San Vicente, where she spoke with residents of the Emberá indigenous community, migrants, and staff from international organizations that care for them, the statement said. “The stories of migrants are heartbreaking. This is a dangerous journey that no one should undertake. It is essential to attack the situations that lead people to leave their countries and also create mechanisms to guarantee humane, safe and orderly migration. We are working closely with Panama on this, ”said Aponte during his visit to the San Vicente shelter. The statement specifies that the US government allocated close to $18 million, in 2022, for humanitarian assistance for refugees and vulnerable migrants in Panama. These funds are delivered to international organizations that have humanitarian assistance programs in the country such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNICEF, the International Organization for Migration and the Pan American Development Foundation.