Martinelli admits to a lot of mistakes

President Ricardo Martinelli in an exclusive interview with Prensa.com. has admitted to  “a lot of mistakes” since he took office, including rushing into things without seeking more advice.

La Prensa reported that  Martinelli listed one of his mistakes the law which eliminated the requirement for environmental impact studies on all proposed development projects.

The law was contained in a bundle of proposals leading to the so called “sausage law”  leading to confrontations in Bocas del Toro that resulted in two deaths and more than 700 people being including two totally blindes and 78 more partially blinded or left with permanent injuries.

According to Martinelli, even though the law was heavily criticized when it was introduced, when a consensus was reached later, more than 90 percent of the original suggestions were approved.

 Martinelli also said it was a mistake to revoke the mining law because some corrections must be made But, “there are millions of dollars being left on the table. We are losing them as a country because we revoked that law.”

“I made a mistake when I revoked it and did not restored the previous law, creating a legal limbo. That was a mistake and we have to recognize it,” said Martinelli.

When he talked about his good decisions, he mentioned the “100 for 70” program ($100 payments to retirees over 70 and on low pensions) , universal scholarships, tax collection and the end of what he described as "a small group of people bossing the country around."

“This is a grown up, different country in which we all have to contribute to, and that was a situation that did not happen before. There used to be some individuals who did not pay taxes,”  he said.