José Ramón Icaza Assured that the Ministry of Culture will be in Charge of Rebuilding the Chinese Monument
The land where the monument was located does not belong to the Municipality of Arraiján, but to Caja de Ahorros, according to the Secretary of Goals.
Panama City: Following the demolition of the monument commemorating 150 years of Chinese presence in Panama, Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha Vásquez confirmed that the incident did not escalate into a diplomatic crisis. Meanwhile, Secretary of Goals José Ramón Icaza clarified that the Ministry of Culture will be responsible for the reconstruction. For his part, Foreign Minister Martínez-Acha Vásquez explained that, although the ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Panama went to the site because the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement requesting explanations, the event did not affect bilateral relations. It should be noted that the allocation of the funds for the reconstruction of the monument is still pending.
The president has been very clear: the monument will be rebuilt on the same site, as stated in the press release issued by the president. The funds and resources will be allocated depending on who is responsible; we will have to see which institution will be in charge. The president has instructed the Ministry of Culture, so that will be arranged later,” Icaza said.
We didn’t have to wait for any official statement to express our regret and criticize the decision. The Executive Branch regretted what happened, and the president has stated his intention to rebuild the monument on the same site. That’s all I can say about it,” he noted.
“It has not affected bilateral relations at all, because the Executive is completely distanced from that decision,” he stated.
“Those lands belong to the Savings Bank and, according to the information I have, they were under a concession that had already expired,” he stated.
Arraiján, West Panama: The demolition of the monument commemorating the presence of the Chinese community in Panama, carried out on December 27th in the Mirador Park of the Bridge of the Americas, cost more than nine thousand dollars, paid with funds from the municipal budget and with prior verification by the Comptroller General of the Republic, according to documents that have come to light amidst the growing controversy over the removal of the structure. Many questioned the lack of communication and the handling of the process, asserting that the problem was not the demolition itself, but the absence of dialogue with the Chinese community and the damage to a plaque that symbolized a historical relationship of more than a century.
