Latest curfew busting party sparks renewed outrage

After an initial official lukewarm response to reports of a birthday party in the La Fragata restaurant bar, in Obarrio during curfew hours on Wednesday Alisson Staff, a customs (ANA ) employee r has been suspended without pay and investigations are underway on three fronts as public outrage spreads.

The public outcry began when neighboring residents gathered outside the restaurant banging pots and pans and called for the diners to come out reflecting a similar protest in front of Jimmy’s restaurant in San Francisco when PRD Party officials held a dinner meeting, resulting in $50,000 fines for the party and the restaurant.

Police were called to  La Fargata,  where they found the party crowd had melted away. but tables were set

The National Authority for Transparency and Access to Information (Antai) will ask the Ministry of Health (Minsa) for an “explanatory” report on the investigation that it will carry out.

The purpose, according to Antai, is to define whether are State assets and public servants were involved in the event.

Initially, Israel Cedeño, director of the Metropolitan Health Region, said that health authorities “found no evidence” that a meeting had been held at the restaurant but said investigations will continue, due to the images that circulated on social networks, and that they will contact the people whose government badges were seen in the transmissions “The videos are being evaluated to determine if the evidence is accurate regarding non-compliance,” he told La Prensa.

Cedeño explained that, after learning of the event, Indalecio Navarro, medical director of the Emiliano Ponce health center, from the Calidonia district,  went to the restaurant to him, but he informed him that when he arrived at the site he found no used tables and the cook he was finishing cleaning his work area. Navarro also did not see vehicles with a yellow line or officials.

Both Navarro and the police agents were slow to arrive at La Fragata, according to the transmission through social networks made by Foco Panamá, and the images released by La Prensa, which would have given the opportunity to clean and tidy up the premises.

Neighbors who protested the meeting chanted slogans demanding the presence of a justice of the peace or Governor Judy Meana. They never appeared.

Security  Minister Juan Pino pointed out that police officers are assistants of justice. “We cannot enter a house, a private place, without the consent of the Public Ministry. If not, we would be getting into a legal problem, “he said.

In La Fragata a card of the Colombian citizen Roberto Gómez Posso was found, who on July 17 announced on his social networks that he had coronavirus and was in the Albrook modular hospital. On one side, the card identifies him as the director of the National Coordination of Projects (Conapro) of the Ministry of Housing. In the other, he appears as an official assigned directly to the office of President Laurentino Cortizo reports

On the official payroll, he appears as a “plan and program coordinator” of the Presidency, with a salary of $4,000 a month.

In his Twitter account, the official boasts his friendship with the president of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, Benicio Robinson. “Happy birthday Benicio Robinson. I ask God to keep guarding him, protecting him, filling him with health, peace, happiness, and many more years, honored with his love and friendship, ”he wrote next to a photo in which the two appear.

Alisson Staff shared images on her  Instagram account about celebrating a birthday. The photos would be from last Wednesday at La Fragata. Reports La Prensa. Staff, who is supposed to be a singer, appears on the state payroll since last March, with the position of “clerk” in the National Customs Authority, with a salary of $725 per month.

Cedeño  claims that: “No official vehicle was found, of any ministry,”

the Association of Restaurants and Bars asked in a statement “how is it possible that in the midst of a major health crisis, restaurant and bar owners lend themselves to facilitate acts without shame that threaten the possibility of opening businesses for dining and entertainment sectors, that have sacrificed dreams and most of their savings? ”.

Arrogance
“We join the national protests in an energetic way against the irresponsible act that represents an arrogant slap in the face for the citizens who are suffering and losing everything since March 11, 2020,” said the union.

Former deputy and former attorney general Ana Matilde Gómez said. “The officials who have been in the La Fragata restaurant should be dismissed because a perverse message of selectivity is being sent.”

, Rómulo Roux, president of the Democratic Change party, said the La Fragata incident is another embarrassment for the country and a slap in the face to the people. “I want to see Cortizo dismiss all the officials who decided to violate the law because they believe they enjoy impunity. Their credibility continues to be destroyed ”.

Rodolfo Samuda, ANA Technical Deputy Director-General, said in Telemetro Reporta that an investigation has been opened in relation to the case, but “respecting” the right of an official. He said that it is an internal investigation independent from the one carried out by the Ministry of Health

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