Changing tides around  presidency

President Laurentino Nito Cortizo not only faces the challenge of flattening the coronavirus contagion curve but also needs a vaccine against the threat of corruption in government purchases under the pandemic umbrella. 

The corruption claims curve peaked last week over disputed contracts to purchase medical supplies reports La Prensa .

The event raised tensions in the Presidential Palace , and put Vice President and Minister of the Presidency, José Gabriel Carrizo , at the center of a public   outcry.

 On Sunday  night, in the capital  thousands of people  banged pots to demand Carrizo’s resignation.

Peak weeks
The virus has not only tested the capacity of the health system, but also the ability of the Executive to politically overcome a crisis.

The resignation of the official who managed purchases for the pandemic, linked  directly  to Carrizo the pressure of the from deputies for the sanction of a general law of moratorium, keeping   the minister who leads the team that fights against the crisis remains in her  post, evidences a harassed Executive.

To this must be added the questions of the main leaders of the political parties and the persistence of those who request a gradual economic reopening in the face of the rapid deterioration of the social situation. And in the midst of everything, the drastic  40% fall  in  government income due to the pandemic.

Tensions
Governing in times of coronavirus requires political grappling at the highest level. Laurentino Cortizo, a  67-year-old man who returned to put the Democratic Revolutionary Party in the presidency after 10 years in political “winter”, faces the challenge of flattening the contagion curve, and eradicating any threat of corruption that can be created with emergency purchases.

The claims curve peaked due to the noise made over questioned contracts to acquire medical supplies. One of them, the purchase of fans with a  massive surcharge caused the departure of the hitherto unknown Juan Carlos Muñoz , vice minister of the Presidency. The  sights then  ,moved to   the man managing the funds of the pandemic: Vice President Carrizo.

With Muñoz out a movement was created that the executive’s political strategists did not anticipate . Citizens began to ask for Carrizo’s resignation

Voices within the PRD like  that of former President Ernesto Pérez Balladares , argued  that requesting the departure of a vice president is “unconstitutional” and would be a “coup.”

But some, like political analyst Edwin Cabrera, published on their social networks photos of presidents of the Republic who had removed vice-presidents.  

As tensions increased in the center of power, the streets erupted. Closings, and protests on the Interamericana, Colón, Chiriquí, San Miguelito, and the capital. They claimed the bags and bonds of the Panama Solidarity plan. In the National Assembly, PRD deputies  called for for the sanction of laws that imply general moratoriums; and some like Zulay Rodríguez and Crispiano Adames branded the new vice-minister of the Presidency Carlos Cayito García as “malicious”, “corrupt” and a “figurehead”.

Gone was the scenario  in which the government’s decisions were applauded: from the sanitary measures, to the presidential speeches in which Cortizo compared the battle against the virus with a war that had to be won .

The criticisms and questions had been quarantined and Cortizo faces a new peak.

José Isabel Blandón , president of the opposition Panameñista Party, said  “The  kind of consensus that existed at the beginning of the crisis has disappeared, first, due to the delay in the delivery of social aid, and second because of the scandals of corruption, ”.

Blandón said on  TVN , that Cortizo should call a dialogue with all sectors to rethink the future of the country. “We cannot pretend to solve an unprecedented crisis, with the same things as before, for me to deliver bags from house to house is to apply a formula of the last century for a crisis of the present century,”  

Charged  atmosphere
The atmosphere  in the oresidency is now more charged. Even than at the beginning of the pandemic, political sources told La Prensa.

Last minute meetings, changes in strategy, scolding, complaints, pressures. With uncertainty on his back, the President has narrowed his  inner circle. To face the f the crisis, he mainly consults two women: the first is Minister of Health, Rosario Turner , a pediatrician who was experienced in crisis management over  massive due to diethylene glycol poisoning in the PRD government of Martín Torrijos (2004-2009).

The other person he listens to is his top advisor: his wife Yazmín Colón de Cortizo, the only one who, according to sources in the Executive branch, dares to speak to his face

On Saturday, April 2, a day after Cortizo announced that 233,657 people will receive the digital voucher, it was rumored that Turner had resigned.  the State Communication Secretariat reported that Turner remained leading the team of professionals that has faced the coronavirus crisis “As she has done since the National Emergency was declared.”  said a release’ 

But,  says La Prensa, The crux is in transparency and managing the millions authorized for the pandemic. People want to know all the details of the contract for the modular hospital, for example, or how many of the millions that have been authorized for the emergency have been spent.

“I have not been able to find a detailed account of all the donations that are being received in relation to Panama Solidario. The same applies to the Panama Solidario program, ”said Olga De Obaldía, executive director of the Foundation for the Development of Citizen Freedom. “At the beginning of the pandemic, we suggested that the government create a website where you can see all the information on the use  of the money earmarked for the emergency, including purchases.”