Government critic joins Presidential photo-op

After harshly criticizing Panama’s government, amid signs that the ruling alliance may be fracturing, Representative. Jose Blandon Figueroa turned up on Friday at a ceremony in Los Santos, with the president, Ricardo Martinelli.

“I was called by the President to accompany him on his tour. I am a member of Government and I came because I am not an enemy of the President or the Government. I saw it as an opportunity to talk directly" said Blandon, according to La Prensa.
His remarks came a day after his father and political analyst Jose Isabel Blandon, said that the government has a campaign against those who criticize the president. One of the critics is deputy Blandon now acting as an advisor to Panama’s unpopular mayor, Bosco Vallarino.

The mayor and Martinelli , are not on the closest of terms as the president’s call for the mayor’s resignation has  gone unheeded.
In the meantime a large election poster showing Blandon and then presidential candidate Ricardo Martinelli, as smiling buddies,  15 months after the election campaign,  still adorns the corner of Calle 42 and Justo Arosemena, a well chosen site as traffic has to stop at the lights, giving drivers and bus passengers time to look at the signs of amity.
However, by law, campaign posters are supposed to be removed within days of the election, and the removal comes under the supervision of the city, which has yet to sort out its waste disposal problems.
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