Former minister threatened for supporting Varela

THE  FORMER MINISTER of the Presidency in the administration of Ricardo Martinelli, Demetrio "Jimmy" Papadimitriu, said he was threatened by the government for his support of the campaign of President-elect Juan Carlos Varela.
"I was threatened by some people in the government," said Demetrio "Jimmy" Papadimitriu,   in an interview with Telemetro on Wednesday May 7.
Papadimitriu, who was the proclaimed "strategist" of the Varela campaign, said that he was warned to not work with the Panameñista candidate reports La Prensa
As part of these threats, he said the aeronaval service Senan boarded a family fishing boat and told the crew "the boat could not be moved until they had orders from above."
Papadimitriu said he told the president through intermediaries that he would not work for the Varela campaign because his father was sick.
"I didn't want my father to go through a bad time, so I accepted the deal to distance myself from Juan Carlos Varela," Papadrimitriu said.
After his father's health improved, he contacted Varela to advise on the campaign.
Papadimitriu resigned from the cabinet in July 2012.
Last Sunday, when journalists asked Martinelli if he had congratulated Varela, he replied that he had deleted his phone number when he learned that the candidate was a friend of Papadimitriu.