Cortizo replaces Foreign Minister without giving reasons

The office of the Presidency in a surprise announcement on Monday, October 10, named  Janaina Tewaney Mencomo, until now Minister of Government, as Foreign Minister, replacing Erika Mouynes.

The Presidency gave no reason for Mouynes’s departure, but in a press release, it thanked her for her services  to the country, “which have contributed both to the strengthening of the foreign service and to Panama’s foreign relations.”

With the appointment, there are already been three foreign ministers in the government of Laurentino Cortizo, since he took office on July 1, 2019.

The first was Alejandro Ferrer, who on December 2, 2020, was replaced by the until-then Vice  Minister for Foreign Affairs Multilaterals and Cooperation, Erika Mouynes.

At that time, Tewaney was an adviser to Ferrer and also advised Cortizo on some official missions.

Tewaney, 38, was Minister of Government since March 6, 2020, after Carlos Romero and Sheyla Grajales passed through that position. It has not been said who will now occupy the position that Tewaney leaves available.

Like Ferrer and Mouynes, she is a lawyer. She was present at the dialogue table in Penonomé, installed in July after the intense street protests that paralyzed the country for a month.

The new chancellor received her law degree in 2006, at the University of Panama. She also holds two master’s degrees: one in international political law from Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, and another in arbitration, mediation and dispute resolution from Hong Kong University.

She was a negotiator of free trade agreements between April and December 2009. She is a member of the PRD.