Business guild demands action to save media group

WITH LESS than a month to go before the temporary operating license of Panama’s oldest newspaper expires, the Chamber of Commerce is urging  its owner to act.

The  majority owner of Grupo Editorial El Siglo y La Estrella (GESE),  is Abdul Waked, whose family conglomerate of 68 businesses is accused of money laundering and links to narco-trafficking and has been placed  on the Clinton list.

In a Saturday December 6 statement  the Chamber asked Wacked to execute “the necessary mechanisms for the company to be removed from the Clinton list.”

The Chamber also announced its support for the government’s proposal to make a formal request to the Office of Control of Assets Abroad of the US Treasury Department  (OFAC), to extend the operating license of  the publisher.

According to the business body , this safe-conduct would be until there is  “a permanent solution” to the situation

The Chamber’s call comes with the aim of “protecting freedom of the press, safeguarding the jobs of 250 employees  and preventing the repetition of what happened with the newspaper Tiempo, in Honduras  that in October of 2015 had to say ‘Hasta pronto, Honduras’,”

The Chamber of Commerce also invited the business sector to maintain its commitment to the newspapers, as advertisers for “what they represent for Panama.  LaEstrella has been publishing for more than 150 years and its survival “should be a concern of all.”

Its    operating license extended by OFAC, expires Jan. 5.