Assembly protestors denounce corruption, impunity

 Calls for the resignation of Deputy and PRD  leader ‘Benicio Robinson, an end to corruption and impunity rose from the crowd of protestors that gathered in front of the National Assembly late afternoon on Tuesday, July 30.

One of the leaders of the initiative was the former independent presidential candidate Ricardo Lombana, who once again questioned multi-million dollar funds spent by lawmakers without accountability.

They gathered in the José Antonio Remón Cantera park, just steps from the Justo Arosemena palace, where the 71 deputies of the country operate. The men and women in charge of making the laws of the country were asked for accounts on corruption scandals in which they have been involved, and for transparency in the legislative forms and reforms to the internal regulations of the Assembly.

Lombana recalled that during the administration of  Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014), more than $400 million of the taxes paid by all Panamanians were assigned to the deputies, “to do what that they wanted and nobody has been accountable.”

He recalled that former President  Juan Carlos Varela (2014-2019) promised to eliminate the games, although he only turned them into forms 080 and 172, “so that the deputies would do what they wanted.” In the new Assembly, the forms remain.

Lawyer Celia Moreno, , urged citizens to return to the streets to demand greater transparency.

Protestors also questioned the resolution passed by the Credentials Commission, which is directed by PRD deputy Roberto Ábrego, which limits the intervention of each deputy per session to 30 minutes when ratifying the Executive’s appointments.

The echo of the slogans reached the full legislative session, which started the session after 5:00 pm “Enough of corruption”, “thieves”, “we want reforms”, could be heard in the chamber.

Some of the banners had messages: “For Panama,” “Juan Diego Vasquez] we support you,” “Benicio, respond to the people what you did with the $ 7 million.”

Balloons in the shape of baseball bats recalled the scandal that deputy Benicio Robinson, who from the Panamanian Baseball Federation managed $7 million for the purchase of sports equipment, but has not said how the money was spent.

The independent deputy  Juan Diego Vásquez greeted protestors and in Tuesday’s session, he asked the president of the Assembly, Marcos Castillero, to analyze the resolution imposed by the Credentials Committee and warned that in time the protests of the people would not be contained.