Narional Assembly fires Ombudsman

Alleging “notorious negligence”, on Wednesday, October 9. the    National Assembly removed  Alfredo Castillero Hoyos from the post of Ombudsman with 65 votes in favor, 1 against and 2 abstentions for alleged labor and sexual harassment.

The dismissal came  after a session of more than three hours;

 Castillero Hoyos tried to defend himself against the questions,  although at the start  he predicted what the end would be reports  La Prensa

“My name was stained forever by an irresponsible process, poorly conducted,” he said, after arguing that he was violated the presumption of innocence and due process.

The only deputy who did not speak against him was Hernán Delgado, of Democratic Change, who said: “If we remove him, we incur a flagrant violation.”

Zulay Rodríguez, chair of the Women, Children, Youth, and Family Committee who led the process, gave details of alleged cases of sexual abuse committed against women working in the Ombudsman’s Office. “She has photos of what happened, supposedly voluntarily, but you held a position of superiority,” she said, referring to one of the alleged victims.

Juan Diego Vásquez, an independent deputy and member of the legislative subcommission that promoted the removal of Castillero Hoyos, defended the legality of the summons before the plenary and recalled that there was a subpoena before the Women’s Committee  

“Show it to me,” the lawyer replied. “I hope you never get stained as they have stained me […]. That path you chose is wrong, ”he said.

In 16 minutes, the defender answered the six questions asked by the deputies. But before he said he knew what the outcome would be. “Rarely in the contemporary history of Panama have so many abuses been committed in a process against a public servant. It has violated the presumption of innocence, due process, the natural judge, the contradictory […] We were not even allowed access to the file. We were left in total helplessness and today there are others added to those violations, ”he said.