Government plan to amend constitution called a smokescreen

Panama’s Government made a surprise announcement, Wednesday, December 29 of a plan to amend the constitution.

The amendments would include the reduction of the time delay before a president could be re-elected and allowing the extradition of Panamanians linked to acts of terrorism, drug trafficking and murder.

It drew a quick reaction from the opposition PRD (People’s Democratic Revolutionary Party) who described the move as a smokescreen to draw attention away from the Wikileaks revelations about President Ricardo Martinelli and the state of his relations with the United States.
The Minister of Labor, Alma Cortes who made the announcement during a television interview, referred directly to former PRD deputy Pedro Miguel Gonzalez who is wanted in the United States for the 1992 killing of a U.S. marine, but Gonzales, after fleeing the country, was found not guilty by a Panamanian court.
The Minister of the Presidency, Demetrio Papadimitriu, added to the list of items that could be included in constitutional reform, including the election of governors by popular vote.