Panama City, July 23 (Prensa Latina) The only dialogue table between the government and social organizations to find solutions to the high cost of living and the postponed hearing of the Odebrecht case marked the week ending today in Panama.
In the central province of Coclé, high-level executive authorities are taking part in the talks, moderated by the Catholic Church, and their liaison with the head of state is the country’s vice-president, José Gabriel Carrizo.
The parties agreed on eight priority issues for these debates, including high prices for family necessities, fuel, medicines and electricity.
They will also consider measures to address the Social Insurance Fund crisis without privatization; Allocate 6.0 percent of gross domestic product to the education system and anti-corruption measures; They will also set up a cross-sectoral table to follow up on each issue.
The talks took place amid road closures and repressive measures by the National Police against protesters in the provinces of Veraguas and East Panama, which threatened the continuity of the negotiations.
Similarly, two people linked to political parties and unrelated to the struggles of people in the streets violently obstructed the passage of a food caravan from Chiriquí to the country’s capital, but under pressure from the population, they surrendered authorities and are prosecuted for personal injury, conspiracy to commit crimes, extortion and assault on individual liberties.
The first sessions of the table didn’t see much progress after the organizations called for a 30 percent reduction in the current cost of the basic basket, but the executive estimates only 15 percent will be possible while unveiling about 35 products for this order, but opposed the creation of a price regulation bureau, another popular movement initiative.
The Unity Table in Coclé is the first successful attempt at dialogue between the parties, after previous government-sponsored approaches failed to include all sectors in the demonstrations.
In the last seven days, the hearing into the biggest corruption case in the country’s history over money laundering and bribery of officials, including two former presidents and several ministers linked to Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, has also been postponed, an investigation that dates from 2017 .
Judge Baloisa Marquínez, in charge of the case, postponed the hearing until next September 12 and until September 30 of the same month because, some wrongly, defense lawyers were not available.
According to analysts, Odebrecht was embroiled in the continent’s biggest corruption scandal, admitting to US authorities that he had paid millions of dollars in bribes in a dozen countries, almost all in Africa and Latin America, and had been fined twice for 1.6 billion dollars.
In Panama, the company and prosecutors agreed in 2017 that the company would pay the state about $220 million over 12 years.