Outdated Pele Police data puts journalist behind bars

A 20-year old outstanding warrant still sitting in the Pele Police files although a pardon had been granted put journalist Enrique Watts behind bars in Colon on Monday, August 5.

The Union of Panama Journalists described the Pele Police as a tool of persecution. Watts was the third journalist to be detained based on outdated information

First Circuit Criminal Court Judge Rolando Quesada Vallespi ordered Police Chief Julio Moltó to release the journalist on Tuesday
Earlier, the Board of Directors said the Pele Police “Isused for political persecution and journalists have been the victims of it on more than one occasion."
The union reiterated that it has warned the government that the pardons granted during the governments of Mireya Moscoso – which included Watts – and Martín Torrijos have not been recorded in the system.
The group demanded the Public Prosecutor's Office and the judiciary clarify the legal status of journalists prosecuted for the crime of slander and libel, but who were later pardoned.
Journalists Enrique Brathwaite of Mi Diario and José Otero of La Prensa were arrested in 2011 due to outdated information.
This case goes back to 1997 when Watts published material in the newspaper El Siglo which involved Colón treasurer Jose Mercedes Brown Gallardo and the Caribbean Medical Center.