Weekly Report - 09 July 2026 (WR-26-27)

In a state of the nation address marking the start of his third year in office on 1 July, Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino announced he would be implementing a “force majeure plan” to tackle insecurity, which would include a new maximum-security prison, among other tougher measures. Mulino’s proposed plan follows an unprecedented jail break a month earlier at La Joyita prison outside Panama City, which saw 195 prisoners escape amid a riot, and would appear to align him with other leaders in the region opting for mano dura measures such as El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele and Costa Rica’s President Laura Fernández [WR-26-24].