Panama anniversary coin snafu by "uncultured political class"
Panama’s Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) is still pondering what to do with the sacks of 50 cent coins that were minted to mark the 500th anniversary of the founding of the city of Panama by Pedro Arias Dávila (Pedrarias Dávila), but mistakenly carried an image of Francisco Pizarro the conqueror of Peru.
The historian Rommel Escarreola describes the $2 million error as the result of having “an uncultured political class and not interested in the historical aspects of the country who “threw themselves into a pool without water”.
The historian’s reactions came after La Estrella revealed that the Ministry had discovered that the coins that were contained an error.
For Escarreola, there are confusions about the images of the Spanish colonizers, especially those that appear on the internet. Pedrarias is often confused with Hernán Cortes, he said.
On Saturday, August 17 the MEF ordered the suspension of distribution of the coins while the image of Pedro Arias Dávila, was validated.
On Monday, the MEF clarified that the destruction of the currency has not been ordered, nor has Minister Hector Alexander asked the legal team to determine if there are criminal or administrative responsibilities for the error, reports La Estrella de Panamá.
The design of Pedro Arias Dávila that appears on the coin was supplied by the Patronato Panamá Viejo and this organization also endorsed its final design, explained the MEF in its press release last Saturday.
