Business leader condemns political slug fests

THE RECENT trading of insults on Twitter by politicians, including President Ricardo Martinelli has led to a call from the business community to lower the tempo.

Fernando Aramburu Porras, President of the Panamanian Association of Business Executives (APEDA), addressed the subject on Friday September 6.

His statements come just days after heated confrontations between politicians through social networks and on some televised talk shows.
The most recent case was the confrontation via Twitter between Minister of Labor and Workforce Development, Alma Cortez, with the lawyer and congressional candidate for the Democratic Revolutionary Party,(PRD) Zulay Rodríguez, where even personal issues were aired.
Martinelli also used Twitter to exchange insults with ex-comptroller, Alvin Weeden.
Aramburu Porras said: "In the end we are all brothers, we Panamanians, are family … This has raised the pitch to a level that is not appropriate and that opens wounds among friends and siblings that are then very difficult to heal."
He said that there is no political crisis in the country, but the  speaking tone in the political class does affect the country's image.