President back from Dubai to thorny issues

PRESIDENT  Juan Carlos Varela returned from his bed of roses in Dubai to a local mattress of thorns including a  legal denunciation, over unfulfilled promises, demands for action in the naming of new Supreme Court judges and the latest election corruption scandal involving deputies, including his own party.

In the Middle East, he had a respectful audience while he mused about open doors for United Emirates entrepreneurs and 10,000 schoolteachers giving English lessons in Panama.

At home, he faces a fractious National Assembly with a power struggle curtailing normal business as opposition parties seek to gain control of the  Credentials Commission.

In statements to the media on Friday, March 2, Varela wanted the Commission struggle resolved (presumably in the hands of his Panamenista Party) so the designation of judges process could restart, following the Assembly rejection ed his previous appointments. At that time he said would appoint two new judges after Carnival.

Carnival ended February 13  and no names came out of the hat, and Civil society began demanding more involvement in the selection process based on a 2005 agreement.

Then Varela left for Dubai and said that on his return he would give the names of the designated judges. Now he wants the Credentials Commission imbroglio solved before he moves.  The issue is in the hands of Judge Abel Zamorano, who must resolve a warning of illegality.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, with two “retired” judges still sitting has not chosen a  new board of directors and Judge Hernán De León is acting as president following the surprise abrupt resignation of Ayu Prado.

Varela has some 14 months left before qualifying for the lame duck title, but critics think he is cementing the tortoise designation they gave him soon after he took office.

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