LatinNews Daily Report - 25 July 2013

JUSTICE | Human rights ombudswoman gets the boot. On 24 July Panama’s supreme court (CSJ) ordered the dismissal of the human rights ombudswoman, Patria Portugal, who has been accused of corruption after alleged irregularities were discovered in contracts awarded to a consultancy hired to overhaul the public defender’s office website. Portugal’s position had looked increasingly untenable since the end of May, when Abigaíl Benzadón, the executive secretary of the national anti-corruption agency, Autoridad Nacional de Transparencia y Acceso a la Información, first presented a complaint against Portugal. The scandal could have implications for the comptroller general Gioconda Torres de Bianchini, an ally of President Ricardo Martinelli, with civil society groups demanding that the unicameral national assembly call her in for questioning in relation to her endorsement of the contracts. Announcing the CSJ decision, Judge José Ayú Prado said that the attorney general, Ana Belfon, now has two months to investigate Portugal, who had been in the post since April 2011. She will be replaced on an interim basis by her deputy Javier Mitil (of the ruling Cambio Democrático), in line with a national assembly resolution.

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