Lawsuit over land transfer for seafood market

A group of citizens presented, a lawsuit on Tuesday, March 22 before the Supreme Court Third Chamber to review the transfer process of land by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) to the Mayor’s Office of Panama for the construction of a new seafood market, which has caused complaints and objections from different sectors of society.

“We ask the Third Chamber to review the legality of the transfer because the urban linear park is under the administration of the Ministry of Public Works and the MEF, according to the regulations, does not have authorization to give that use to the Mayor’s Office of Panama”, said the lawyer Giulia de Sanctis, who spoke on behalf of the plaintiff group.

De Sanctis recalled that other reasons for the lawsuit filed against the MEF and the Minister of Economy and Finance, Héctor Alexander, is that when the transfer of the farms was carried out,  without public consultation.

The jurist stated that by giving these three farms a different use, the rule that governs the coastal strip is being violated. “We believe that the Third Chamber should review whether what was done is legal or not,” she reiterated.

The group, according to the spokeswoman, is very concerned about the future of the coastal strip that is currently used by thousands of Panamanians and emphasized that it would break with that reality to carry out a project that is rejected by the community.

She pointed out that the mayor of Panama, José Luis Fábrega, held a public consultation in November 2021 in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, “at which there were only 20 people.”