High profile killings but violence declining says Martinelli

In a week of high profile killings in Panama, President Ricardo Martinelli, in an attempt to divert questions about a perceived government crisis said the levels of violence are down.

He was speaking at a fair in San Miguelito on Saturfay, May 14, and refused to answer questions about the withdrawal of the U.S, visa of tourism manager Salomon Shamah, under suspicion of connections with narco traffickers.

He expressed his regret over the death of the son of Colón Mayor, Dámaso García that came in the same week as a man was assimilated on a bus in Panama and an American embassy employee was gunned down.
Martinelli said that Panama is the only country in Latin America that has witnessed a decline in the rate of violence He said that Security Minister, José Raúl Mulino had released figures reflecting the decrease in levels of violence. "And they will continue falling.”
When published The figures were contradicted by a report published in El Siglo which had kept its own record of killings, and showing that there was an increase.
Meanwhile Public Mulino, left for Spain on Saturday, to attend yet another security conference. The Minister who, according to Wikileaks revelation, had been mocked by the president, and had his job  "because no one else wanted it", was off to the International Conference in Support of the Central-American Security Strategy, on Monday, May 16 in Córdoba.
Mulino is scheduled to return to Panama on Wednesday after bilateral meetings with Spanish officials.
Martinelli has promised a cabinet shuffle in July, but there is no word on whose jobs are in danger.