Deputy linked to notorious gang seeks re-election
A lawmaker linked to a notorious gang leader, detained in Punta Coco, the maximum security prison reserved for Panama’s most dangerous criminals is running for re-election.
PRD deputy Deputy Alfredo Fello Pérez seeks re-election in the circuit 8-4 (Chepo, Balboa, Chimán, Taboga) is linked to Carlos Mosquera, alias Calitín, accused of gangs and drug trafficking reports La Prensa.
A sentimental relationship with Nitzia Pérez sister of the sister of the deputy, with Mosquera which produced a son, led them to participate in joint-stock companies with Mosquera, leader of the Calor Calor gang linked to drug trafficking.
The deputy, his sister, and Mosquera created Versace Internacional CO., SA, and Agro Darién SA, in 2010 to “win” tenders in the government of Ricardo Martinelli since they would have the influence of a member of the Molirena party, which was part of that administration.
In 2012 in the port of Balboa, several containers of the company Agro Darién SA were found containing cocobolo, an endangered species whose extraction and commercialization is prohibited. Pérez was called to trial after being elected deputy in 2014. The case went to the Supreme Court where it sits
Perez has three other complaints in the Court for writing checks without funds.
La Prensa describes him as “a deputy of few words in the National Assembly low profile and little presentation of laws, a man with a peasant accent, but with suspicious connections. Intelligence information links Calitín Mosquera with the Calor Calor gang and with the capture of 320 kilograms of cocaine, war weapons and luxury cars on a farm in Chame.
The deputy, who recently challenged the leadership of the PRD by voting in favor of the Minister of the Presidency, Jorge González, to become a director in the Panama Canal Authority, faces, at least, five processes in the Supreme Court.
One was admitted on April 7, 2016, referring to a complaint filed by the then National Environment Authority, now Ministry of Environment, related to an alleged attempt to export cocobolo wood to China, through the La Colina, SA Center for Wood and Furniture, and in which the deputy is indicated.
The other process related to the presumed wood trafficking was admitted on December 21, 2017.
Cocobolo has a high demand from countries in Asia, Europe, as well as the US.
Judge Angela Russo is the prosecutor of the cases involving bounced checks and she recently asked the Electoral Tribunal to lift the electoral penal jurisdiction (immunity) of deputy Fello Pérez but has not yet received a response.
La Prensa called the deputy Fello Perez for his version of his links with Mosquera, and the cases in the Court, but got no reply.
