President Juan Carlos Varela has openly breached his word committed, of make a Government transparent.
This returns to be evidenced with allegations of corruption and lack of transparency made by two international economists, who were forced to give up a Committee formed after the Panama Papers.
The so-called "independent Committee" had been promoted by the Government, looking for cleaning the face of the country, after the scandal of massive money laundering by the law firm of Mossack Fonseca.
But two international members of this Committee, Joseph Stiglitz, and Mark Pieth (renowned figures of the world economy and the fight against corruption), denounced pressure from the Executive so that the world would not know about their discoveries, after they probed the financial system of Panama.
"How may a Committee for transparency be formed if this itself is not transparent?", said Stiglitz and Pieth in a statement, in direct reference to the Government of Varela.
They revealed that the Government tried to apply restrictions close to "censorship".
Silence lends assent
Before these serious accusations made in international media, various local organizations, including the National Association Lawyers (CNA), demanded the authorities to render an explanation in defense of the name of Panama.
But the Minister of the Presidency, Álvaro Alemán, said yesterday that there had been no response nor legal action against Stiglitz, and that the Government has decided to "turn the page".
He added that the Government will not lose "time and effort with this man", trying to minimize accusations by Nobel Laureate, Joseph Stiglitz.
Varela himself tried to disqualify the anti-corruption experts, claiming that their resignation of the Committee was due to "internal differences".
However, Stiglitz, and Pieth were compelling as they refuted Varela...
"We had a problem with the Government of Panama, not with the other members of the group," they pointed out in a statement to AFP.
Promise breached
Precisely on the issue of transparency, far away sound the words of President Juan Carlos Varela in his inauguration, two years ago.
"At this moment I promise and pledge to all the men and women who will accompany me in my Administration to install an honest, transparent and efficient Government," he said on July 1, 2014.
Varela topped his words pledging publicly that "the unique goal" of his Government would be "to serve the people".
But "today we see a management in which the interests of friends, partners or political associates prevail, rather than the people´s," Economist Maribel Gordón reacts.
The also economist Juan Jované adds that Stiglitz and single Pieth have only taken to the international sphere a harsh national reality of a Government without real commitment to transparency.
And he agreed with Stiglitz in the complaint that there is "pressure towards the Government by the people benefiting from the system".
Jované warned that Varela´s Government has to stop "defending their campaign donors, and show willingness to clarify the Panama Papers scandal".
He regretted that actions are being carried out internationally while in Panama everything seems to be in a standstill.
He cited the investigation ordered in New York to the employees of the branch of Mossack Fonseca in that city, and the claim of Brazil that Panama does not cooperate.
About this suspicious inaction, lawyer Alejandro Pérez said that it is clear that the Government "has no rush in investigating Ramón Fonseca Mora", who is a founding member of the Panamanian firm Mossack Fonseca.
"Nothing will ever happen to them,", said Perez.
And Enrique Montenegro of the Anti-corruption Front of Panama, also agreed that this is a possibility.
"In two years this Government has shown that it defends the interests of businessmen and campaign donors, protecting the interests of the so-called establishment," said Montenegro.
For the anti-corruption front spokesman, it is evident that Varela Government faced pressure from the business wing, which caused censorship of Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate and expert in fighting corruption and Mark Pieth, whose revelations "could stifle the country's stability".
He revealed that the experts "wanted to publish the list of all the banks that have washed more than $10 billion in the past 10 years, which caused Varela a conflict of interest, because the banks in Panama have a strong clout", he said Montenegro.
Bad image
But José Alberto Álvarez, President of the National Association of Lawyers, points out that this whole situation already has "appallingly harmed" Panama, especially when its name is being tarnished internationally with accusations of "lack of transparency".
The President of the CNA was against Varela's Government´s strategy of taking away credibility from the Nobel laureate in economics.
Alvarez recalled that Joseph Stiglitz has moral authority to discuss economic issues in the world. And regretted that before the sensitive accusations of lack of transparency, "Panama has reacted very mildly".
