Independence Week events

THE COMING days  will be marked by ceremonies and parades as Panama celebrates what has become Independence Week when thousands exit the country as  businesses and government offices close for at least three days.
 All Souls Day, starts with a pilgrimage to the Amador cemetery, where at 7.30 am President Juan Carlos Varela will place wreaths at the mausoleum of Manuel Amador Guerrero, first president of the Republic, and the Mausoleum of Soldiers of Independence.

Varela  will be accompanied by Panama’s mayor , Jose Isabel Blandon, and Ricardo Dominguez, president of the Municipal Council.

At 6:00 pm   a  torchlight parade, of members of security bodies    will set out from Parque Urraca (opposite the Miramar Intercontinental Hotel) and march to the Presidential Palace in Casco Viejo.

No liquor is on sale on All Souls Day.

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 3
The day marks  112 years  of Panama’s separation  from Colombia. The festivities start at the Presidential Palace 4:30 am with  the traditional playing of reveille at the Presidential Palace.

At  7:00 am President Varela will attend  the raising of the national  which  carried during the patriotic parade by, Jerusalen Smith  the 24-years-old Guna doctor who recently graduated top of her  class at The Panama University Medical School.

The patriotic parades start at 9am

One  will start from Simon Bolivar Park in Casco Viejo  to the Assa Theater on Avenida Balboa

The other will set out from  near MultiCentro on Balboa to the offices of the Ministry of Public Works, in the Cinta Costera.

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 4
The Patriotic Parades  will start at 8 am, with participants from the previous day switching routes.

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 5
Ceremonies begin at 7 am in Colon with the hoisting of the national flag by the President.

The parade begins at 9:00 am.