Caribbean & Central America - January 2015 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Panama’s President Juan Carlos Varela recently named his choices for attorney general, comptroller general as well as anti-corruption tsar. The appointments have attracted particular scrutiny given Varela’s declared pledge upon taking office in July 2014 to crack down on official corruption. The issue remains very much in the spotlight given the unprecedented anti-corruption protests held in November 2014.

On 2 December 2014 President Varela named a lawyer, Kenia Porcell, as Panama’s new attorney general for a ten-year term. Porcell, who was ratified two days later by the 71-member unicameral legislature, has held various posts in the attorney general’s office. Most recently she served as general sub-secretary (2005-2010) under Ana Matilde Gómez, who was ejected in January 2010 by the previous Cambio Democrático (CD) government led by Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) for 'abuse of authority'. At the time Gómez’s alignment with the opposition Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD) gave rise to suspicion that her removal was politically motivated and Porcell had stepped down following Gómez’s departure. Gómez went on to be elected as an independent deputy in the May 2014 general elections. Yet the process by which Varela chose Porcell was criticised by civil society organisations like the Alianza Ciudadana Pro Justicia, which grumbled about weak transparency and a lack of consultation.

Porcell’s appointment came less than a week after that of Federico Humbert Arias, a local businessman, as Panama’s new comptroller general. A former director (2002-2004) of national daily, La Prensa, Humbert, who was ratified by the legislature on 26 November 2014, as Panama’s ambassador to the US under the Martín Torrijos administration (PRD, 2004-2009). However, Humbert threw his weight behind Varela during last year’s electoral campaign. Humbert’s deputy will be Nitzia de Villarreal, a former trade minister under the Ernesto Pérez Balladares government (PRD, 1994-1999).

The other key post filled by President Varela was that of Angélica Maytín, who on 11 November was appointed to head up the government’s anti-corruption agency, Autoridad Nacional de Transparencia y Acceso a la Información (Antai), for a five-year term. The choice of Maytín was generally well received – she was the executive president of the local branch of international NGO, Transparency International (TI) at the time of her appointment.

Public outrage

The process of filling the appointments came under close scrutiny given the current public outrage over corruption. On 23 November some 2,000 people took to the streets of the capital and around the country in protest at various corruption scandals involving former government officials. The local media noted that the anti-corruption demos were unprecedented since Panama’s return to democracy in 1990.

The most high-profile alleged corruption case involves the government’s social fund (PAN), which is currently being audited [RC-14-10]. Two former PAN directors have so far been arrested - Rafael Guardia Jaén (2012-2014), who was detained on 17 November and Giacomo Tamburelli (2009-2012), who was placed under house arrest on 15 December.

Besides Guardia and Tamburelli, other former Cambio Democrático (CD) government officials currently being investigated for alleged corruption include former ministers of education (Lucy Molinar, 2009-2014), social development (Guillermo Ferrufino, 2009-2014) and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs, Giselle Burillo, 2009-2013).

Meanwhile, the investigation continues into another former close Martinelli ally – former supreme court justice, Alejandro Moncada Luna, who was suspended in October by the national assembly so that he could be investigated for alleged corruption [RC-14-11].

• New look legislature

On 21 December six elections for national legislative seats were held in various districts across the country. These were the final pending contests to be held after the electoral court (TE) admitted appeals against eleven legislative results from the May 2014 general elections, ten of which had gone to the now opposition Cambio Democrático (CD). The latest elections mainly proved damaging for the CD which saw its presence in the 71-member unicameral legislature reduced to 25 seats (down from 30 initially won in May). The opposition Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD) now has 26 seats (up from 25) and the El Pueblo Primero (EPP) coalition (led by President Juan Carlos Varela’s Partido Panameñista, PPA) has 17 (up from 13). This gives the EPP and the PRD, which currently have a legislative pact, a combined majority of 43 seats.