Martinelli pressured Varela to make Lavitola Panama Consul

PRESIDENT-elect, Juan Carlos Varela said, Wednesday June 9, that while he was Chancellor he was pressured by President Ricardo Martinelli to appoint Italian Valter Lavitola as honorary Panama Consul in Italy.

Lavitola, now facing multiple corruption charges linked to Panama, at that time a representative of the consortium Finmeccanica, tried to sell a $50,million plane to Panama for use by the civil defense agency Sinaproc.

Varela said he was the one who received the proposal in May 2011 when he was Chancellor. He said the pitch was made to him while he was in Rome for the beatification of John Paul II.
On Radio Panama, Varela said he rejected the proposal given that the equipment budget of Sinaproc was just $3 million.
He also said he questioned  Martinelli's decision to make Lavitola an honorary consul, saying he delayed the appointment despite being pressured by Martinelli to approve it.
Varela said he had concerns about the appointment, but could do nothing about it once he was replaced as Chancellor when his party's alliance with Martinelli disintegrated.
On more pressing current problems Varela said that, as he had announced during his political campaign, that the interconnection of electric power between Panama and Colombia will become a reality.
Varela said that he will seek to double the capacity of power transmission, from 300 to 600 megawatts.
He said the project would address the country's energy needs for the next 20 years. "We are going to push this project," he said.
The team accompanying the president-elect met Tuesday with representatives of public enterprises of Medellin (EPM), an entity that is advising Panama’s water and sewage authority (Idaan) on its modernization process.
EPM said that cities such as Barranquilla and Cartagena have 95 percent sewerage coverage, while in Panama City it is 50 percent.
"These are models that we are studying," Varela said.