Government and civil group face off

The struggle between representatives of the government and civil society continue says La Prensa with the latest darts directed at the Foundation for the Development of Citizen Liberty, the Panamanian chapter of Transparency International , and its measurement of Institutional Integrity.

Labor Minister, Alma Cortes, during a TV debate, questioned the tool that measures the transparency of public institutions. Critics also pointed fingers at the foundation’s executive director, Angélica Maytín Justiniani.

Cortes read a list of names, listed as members of the board of the organization, and said she was struck that their finances always reported "surplus.”
The foundation said that the statements of the minister were part of the smear campaign used by the Executive to silence  criticisms of the government  made by the civil society.t
It said the list of people who Cortes named as directors of the foundation was six years old, and did not correspond to reality.
It also disclosed a letter (September 2009), addressed to the Minister of Agricultural Development, in which the Minister of the Presidency, Demetrio Papadimitriu, described the project as "an objective tool," and gave approval for implementation.

The differences between government and organized groups deepened after the Citizens’ Alliance for Justice took the lead in a discussion of justice in Panama at a Human Rights meeting in Washington.