Panama President-elect Jose Raul Mulino Presents his Cabinet Business Leaders

Panama President-elect Jose Raul Mulino pulled business leaders and an economist into his ranks, the first cabinet selections in what Mulino has promised will be an administration friendly to the private sector.  Mulino, whose government will begin the transition process next month, tapped business leader Felipe Chapman for the economy and finance minister post and economist Javier Martinez-Acha as foreign minister.  “The campaign is over, from here on out it’s our job to lead the country with the best people possible,” Mulino said.  Chapman is the son of former Planning Minister Guillermo Chapman.  His appointment is “clearly a positive development, one that increases the likelihood of more sound fiscal management in upcoming years,” wrote analysts from BancTrust & Co. in a note to clients.  Julio Molto, head of the national police under Martinelli, will also serve as trade minister.  In his role, Molto will oversee the closure of the once-lucrative First Quantum copper mine in the nation. 

Martinelli is a close ally of Mulino’s and had headed the presidential ticket before he was disqualified so Mulino took his place and won the election.  The former president moved into the Nicaraguan embassy to avoid being arrested in Panama City, did quite the renovation job while there, and continued wielding influence on the election, with Mulino visiting him after the vote with congratulations on their win.  Despite the legal troubles, Martinelli’s 2009-2014 administration was an economic bonanza, with businesses and job creation booming.  Mulino has vowed to follow Martinelli’s economic strategy, though “the new authorities will have to overcome the challenges that are being inherited from the (outgoing) administration,” the BancTrust analysts wrote.  “Maintaining the country on the path of fiscal consolidation continues to be unlikely in the short term,” they cautioned.  

Mulino is moving away from direct contact with Martinelli as not to attract too much attention to that situation.  Mulino has stated that he is nobody’s puppet and he will move the country into prosperity with the help of his new cabinet members.  There is speculaltion that Mulino may help Martinelli find transportation to Nicaragua with the hopes that Martinelli’s lawyers will assist Ricardo in his current situation that keeps him locked up in the Nicaraguan embassy.  Mulino also named Jose Icaza, the former head of Panama’s chamber of commerce, as minister for the Panama Canal. The trade route, one of the world’s busiest, has been hit by a recent drought and daily crossings have been limited but with more and more rain and the levels of water rising in Lake Gatun, it appears that by the first of June, the canal will be back to moving 32 ships per day through the canal and back to normal by the time that 2025 rolls around.  The president-elect said he still had to name an interior minister and education minister.