Martinelli ally hopes to thwart Varela appointments

The  controversial chairman president of the National Assembly  Credentials

Committee the deputy Sergio “Chello” Gálvez, the self-described “sexual buffalo” and close collaborator with ex-president Ricardo Martinelli, is also an affirmed opponent of President Juan Carlos Varela who takes pleasure in butting heads with the Executive.

His latest disruptive tactic as the Assembly in its dying days prepares for extraordinary sessions so that long-delayed appointments made by Varela can be ratified was aired by TVN Noticias, on Thursday, May 23. He said that the Executive Organ and the bench of the Panameñista Party will have to bend the knee before the Committee and  “lobby” to get the designations ratified. “It will depend on the executive itself and if the Panameñista Party’s caucus shows interest in lobbying,” Gálvez said.

The Cabinet Council called the Assembly to extraordinary sessions from Monday, May 27 until June 30, where a 12-point agenda should be discussed, of which eight relate to appointments.

Gálvezsaid that he will call a meeting of to the nine members of the Credentials Committee, but  “my political calculation tells me that there is no atmosphere at all for this approval,”  he said.

“In my case, my vote will be against the entire designations of Varela, so you do not have to talk to me,  you are going to waste your time,” said the Democratic Change  (CD) deputy.

The appointments that should be discussed in extraordinary sessions are:

Luis Antonio Camargo Vergara, as substitute judge of the First Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of  (CSJ).

Katia del Carmen Di Bello Becerra as substitute judge of the Third Chamber of Contentious Administrative Matters of the CSJ.

Judith Esther Cossú as substitute judge of the First Civil Chamber of the CSJ.

Luis Fernando Tapia González as a judge of the Second Criminal Chamber of the CSJ.

María Eugenia Pérez as  Electoral Attorney General. Miguel Ángel Esbrí as a member of the Board of Directors of the Superintendence of Insurance and Reinsurance

Roberto Roy as a member of the Board of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP).

Marietta Jaén member of the ACP Board

 Finally, “Chello” Gálvez said that the deputies must comply with the call for extraordinary sessions, but as the majority of deputies did not achieve re-election, he considers that they could choose not to attend or send alternates.