“Stuffed Sausage” bill kept hidden
The contents of a bill reforming three codes and six laws were hidden for two weeks by the Cabinet and then introduced in a proposal to reform commercial aviation says La Prensa
theBilll, now known as Act 9 in 1 or El Chorizo (the sausage) included changes to the penal and labor codes and rules governing the environment.
It led to massive street demonstrations’ and the threat of a national strike The hidden project was converted"to Law 30 with the signature of President Ricardo Martinelli after being rushed through three readings in the National Assembly
It was on the night of May 26 that the Cabinet approved the document, as stated in resolution 56, which bears the signature of the President, and his ministers of state. “However, the report of the press office of the Presidency, did not include the approval of the most controversial project of his first year in office. Days later, amid criticism from civil organizations-Martinelli defended himself saying that the project lacked "disclosure." Said La Prensa
On June 7, when the Interior Minister, Jose R. Mulino, presented the draft to the Assembly, he also concealed its contents.and In the short introductory memorandum, addressed only the reform of the law of commercial aviation. It was only on June 8, when the project appeared on the website of the Assembly, that it was known that the text included labor reforms, and changes to criminal and human rights.
Carlos Gaznell, the Citizens Freedom Foundation, described this as a bad practice and Gaznell denounced the lack of transparency. and the failure to disclose a law with such reforms, which included violating legal process, represented a dangerous practice for democracy.{jathumbnail off}