Caretaker  ombudsman spreads her wings

Maribel Coco Panama’s temporary Ombudsman, , confirmed on Telemetro on Friday, October 11 in that her first move on assuming the role was to  request the resignations of the directors and department heads.

The request was made during a meeting held on Thursday, October 10, the day she received the keys of the office from  Alfredo Castillero Hoyos , removed as Ombudsman for “notorious negligence” on Wednesday night.

 Coco was appointed as deputy defender by  Castillero Hoyos two weeks ago as a deputy defender.

Coco said that, as an advocate in charge, she needs to have a “trustworthy staff” that “guides” her in the new role.

He was fired from he previous post as a university professor for plagiarism.

“I will not dismiss anyone who works … He who works is no problem,” she said, and added that she had he resigned from the ranks of the official Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), in which she militated for decades, after being appointed as a deputy defender.

[Civil rights leaders and citizen groups had protested that the appointment of a ruling party loyalist was politicizing the Ombudsman’s office when one of its functions was to defend the people  against government abuses]

She warned that in some positions he must have staff with a high degree of confidence.

Carlos Lee, president of the Pro Justice Citizen Alliance, immediately hit back and said that Coco has lost sight of the fact that the  Ombudsman is a technical entity.

“It’s not about trustworthy personnel, but about technicians who know how to handle human rights,” said Lee.

He noted that the Ombudsman currently has officials with 15 years of experience and more, who have been learning to institutionally protect human rights and exercise the functions of an Ombudsman’s Office. Therefore, the criterion assumed by Coco is “absurd”, since it is a technical entity, not political or otherwise.

Coco said that her management will be “open doors”, and work in the street and not in a “refrigerated office.”