International
Rómulo Roux, the presidential candidate who promises a Constituent Assembly to refound Panama
Rómulo Roux, leader and presidential candidate of the opposition Democratic Change (CD) party of Panama and who came second in the 2019 elections, is considered a politician who does not live off the system.
This gives it the power to carry out its main objective: a new Magna Carta that refounded Panama and frees it from corruption.
“I’m not a professional politician, I don’t live off the system, I don’t live on my donors, and that gives me the freedom to make the decisions that the country requires them to be made,” such as changing the Constitution through a constituent assembly,” the lawyer and doctor of law said in an interview with EFE.
Roux, standard-bearer of the traditional CD and Panameñista Party (PPa) and third in the most recent survey published by the newspaper La Prensa, tries again to reach the presidency of Panama with a series of basic columns, including economics, education and the reform of public institutions.
Winning, apart from “punctual” proposals such as creating 500,000 jobs and tripling, up to five million, the number of annual visitors to the country, he intends to leave the change of the 1972 Constitution as one of its “legacys”.
This new legal framework is needed, among others, “to eliminate the number of deputies (71), lower it to no more than 51 deputies and that they cannot raise their own budget when they feel like it, that they cannot take the Executive hostage.”
“Yes (refound), give the country a structure and a new legal framework that eliminates a system that today is made to shield the thugs, to shield corruption, to shield impunity. That system has already collapsed,” said Roux, born in Panama in 1965.
He admitted, however, that cases of corruption such as Odebrecht’s have been of people within the traditional political parties “who have done things wrong.”
But between fleeing “as others have done, one can choose to reform the party, ensure that it operates as it has to operate and that it does things right.”
“Those who want the usual path, the path of politicking, clientelism, malantry, I don’t even want them here,” he remarked.
Roux is fighting for the presidency for the period of 2024-2029 with former president Martín Torrijos (2004-2009) for the Popular Party (PP); the current vice president José Gabriel Carrizo for the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) and the Molirena; and Ricardo Lombana for the Movimiento Otro Camino (Moca) party.
His opponents are also former Minister José Raúl Mulino for the Realizing Goals (RM) collective and the Alianza Party (PA) instead of former President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) – politically disqualified after being convicted of money laundering – and the candidates for the free application Melitón Arrocha, Maribel Gordón and Zulay Rodríguez.
Closely defeated in the 2019 elections by Laurentino Cortizo, Roux recalls that he always said that he “had doubt whether the official result reflected the will of voters at the national level in number of votes in different popular election positions.”
Even so, he now considers that the electoral system at that time “was what it was, and we decided to move forward for five more years, fight and be this May 5 again, to win the presidency.”
In that way, whoever was head of Foreign Affairs and minister for Channel Affairs with Martinelli’s government (2009-2014) points out that nothing distracts him, not even those who talk about his ‘American nationality’, something he denies and assures is a “dirty” campaign that comes from the disabled former president and Mulino, who leads the most recent survey with 29%.
“Why is it me who is attacked the most, if he says that they are flying in the polls? That they attack other candidates. Do they have an ass (fear)?” he said.
Roux, who claims to have his “own polls” and find out what happens while touring the country, affirms that he is not worried about his rivals either, but that it is important is that the Supreme Court of Justice “decide quickly” on the complaint of unconstitutionality against Mulino’s candidacy, “not to remove candidates, but to eliminate uncertainty.”
The lawsuit was filed on March 4 by a lawyer considering that, after the Electoral Tribunal disqualified Martinelli, Mulino’s candidacy is not valid because she was not subjected to primaries and also violates constitutional articles on the election of the president and the vice president of the country.
Among the issues that have marked the debate in the electoral campaign is that of the Cobre Panama mine, of the Canadian First Quantum Minerals (FQM) and disabled by a court ruling last November after massive protests against mining activity.
The issue has persecuted Roux for his relationship with one of the law firms involved in the signing of the first contract of the mining concession, but he responded without hesitation to EFE’s question about the fact that, in case of winning the presidency, things vary and the mine stays to continue operating.
“No, the mine is leaving. The mine is leaving because there is already a ruling from the Court and the people spoke,” he said, but that it must be “closed in an orderly manner and that it does not cost the country anything. Always close it, taking care of the environment.”
International
85% of Haiti’s capital has fallen into the power of gangs, according to UN reports
The power of criminal gangs in Haiti continues to grow and at the moment they control about 85% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, according to “certain estimates” that this Monday were cited in the UN Security Council by Miroslav Jenca, Undersecretary General for Europe, Asia and the Americas in the UN Political Affairs Department.
The gangs have begun to attack the places of “relative security” that remained in the capital, such as the Petionville neighborhood, where UN offices, embassies and foreign personnel are located. There, an attack recorded last Tuesday left “dozens dead,” he said.
In response, spontaneous groups of neighbors have begun to organize armed patrols, to set up unofficial road controls “and to take justice into their hands,” Jenca lamented.
The number of displaced people reaches 700,000
In the vast areas where gangs have control, the security and human rights of their inhabitants are in danger, and especially those of women, since gang members resort to all forms of violence, often sexual violence, to subjugate neighbors.
This situation has caused 700,000 Haitians to flee their homes and are now in a situation of “internally displaced people.”
Despite this, neighboring countries continue to deport Haitians (170,000 so far), mainly from the Dominican Republic, although Jenca did not cite this country.
What is the situation of the Multinational Mission to contain gangs in Haiti?
The Multinational Security Mission that was supposed to train the Haitian police has so far received only 400 agents of the 2,500 that it must gather, mainly due to lack of funds, and the prospects are so pessimistic that the Government of Haiti has already asked that the MMS be transformed into a classic mission of “blue helmets”.
However, this will not be easy because so far Russia and China oppose the deployment of a peace mission in Haiti arguing that the last mission of this type left the country among very serious accusations of sexual abuse and having caused and spread in 2010 a cholera epidemic that was fatal for the country, leaving thousands dead.
International
One-week preventive detention for Princess Mette-Marit’s son of Norway for rape
An Oslo court issued this Wednesday preventive detention of one week with a ban on visits for Marius Borg Høiby, son of Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, for two cases of rape of two different women.
Høiby, 27 years old and the result of a previous relationship with the princess, had been arrested on Monday night for the third time since August for an alleged rape, but the Prosecutor’s Office revealed today at the end of the hearing, held behind closed doors, that another case had been discovered during the investigation.
The young man, who is not part of the Royal House, is also being investigated for injuries and damages against three of his ex-girlfriends and for threats to a man.
Prison for two cases of rape in Norway
The hearing began at 14:00 local time (13:00 GMT) and ended two hours later, but Judge Anne-Lene Åvangen Hødnebø did not issue her opinion until after 22:00.
According to public television NRK, the police used as evidence recordings found on Høiby’s phone.
In both cases it is sexual intercourse without penetration, reported the Prosecutor’s Office, which had requested two weeks in prison.
“The reason we asked for two weeks is that we discovered another violation last night. It is a case of sexual relationship without intercourse with a woman unable to resist the act. We are investigating two rape cases,” prosecutor Andreas Kruszewski said at the end of the hearing.
HØiby’s lawyer, Øyvind Bratlien, stated that his defendant denies the accusations and described the allegations as a “catastrophic” error of judgment.
Three arrests since August
Høiby was arrested on Monday night when he was driving with his ex-girlfriend, the protagonist of the incident that led to the first arrest and which he is forbidden to contact.
His home in Skaugum, on the same property where Crown Princes Haakon and Mette-Marit reside, was searched by police officers.
According to Norwegian media, the first alleged rape occurred at the young woman’s home in March of this year; the other, in her residence in Skaugum a few weeks ago.
It is the third arrest of Høiby, who was arrested a few hours ago in early August after an incident in his ex-girlfriend’s apartment and was accused of injuries, damage and threats, in a case that was later expanded and that also includes two of his previous partners and another person.
Høiby admitted a few days after his arrest in August in a statement part of the accusations and admitted to having problems with alcohol and other drugs and suffering from mental problems.
The Royal House is reluctant to talk about the case
The Norwegian Royal House has been reluctant to comment on the case of the young Marius Borg Høiby, which has generated a lot of media attention in this Nordic country, and only Prince Haakon has made statements.
“I think Marius faces serious accusations. The judicial system must do its job,” Haakon said today from Jamaica, where he attended an event organized by the UN.
The heir to the Norwegian throne said that as “parents” they have tried to get the young man to receive “help.”
Høiby is the result of a previous relationship of Mette-Marit and has no official commitments to the Royal House, although he attends some celebrations such as the birthdays of his stepbrothers and has always maintained the relationship with both Haakon and Kings Harald V and Sonia.
International
The next attorney general Matt Gaetz manages to stop the report on his sex scandal
The Ethics Committee of the US House of Representatives did not make public this Wednesday due to lack of agreement the report of its investigation into Matt Gaetz, nominated by President-elect Donald Trump, to be the next attorney general and investigated for inappropriate sexual behavior and drug use.
The president of that commission, Republican Michael Guest, told the press at the end of the nearly two-hour meeting at the Capitol that there was no consensus among the members when making that document public.
That body was going to put its decision to a vote last Friday, but Gaetz’s resignation from his seat two days earlier, after being appointed by Trump, delayed that scrutiny and effectively ended the investigations into him.
Although with the departure of the Florida representative of Congress, the commission was left without jurisdiction to investigate him, the publication of the conclusions of his investigation opened in 2021 for alleged inappropriate sexual conduct, irregular use of campaign funds, acceptance of bribes and drug use was still in the air.
Committee interviews
The committee interviewed two women who testified that Gaetz, nominated for attorney general, paid them for having sex at a party in Florida, where prostitution is illegal.
According to the women’s lawyer to the NBC News channel, Joel Leppard, one of them also testified that she saw Gaetz having sex with a minor, although he said that he did not think he knew that he was 17 years old at the time.
Gaetz has denied those accusations and Trump’s transition team considers them unfounded and recalls that the Department of Justice closed a parallel investigation without charges.
Review of the report
Several senators, both Republicans and Democrats, had said that they wanted to review that report before the Judicial Committee of the Upper House examines Gaetz’s nomination next year and then the plenary of that hemicycle validates or stops it.
The authorization of the positions of the future cabinet depends on the Senate, but until then Gaetz has the support of Trump, who has stated that he does not question his own decision, and also of the future vice president, JD Vance, who accompanied him to Congress this Wednesday.
Report on Gaetz next attorney general has had leaks
However, although the House Committee on the House of Representatives stopped the dissemination of the report, there have already been leaks in the national press.
The lawyer of the two women indicated that they provided that committee with numerous photos related to the time they spent with the Republican, who according to that lawyer paid 6,000 dollars to one and 4,000 to another to sleep with them.
The leader of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, had wanted to stay out of the committee’s decision, but at the same time he did not consider it appropriate for it to disseminate his investigation: “That would open Pandora’s box and I don’t think it’s something healthy for the institution,” he said.
85% of Haiti’s capital has fallen into the power of gangs, according to UN reports
One-week preventive detention for Princess Mette-Marit’s son of Norway for rape
The next attorney general Matt Gaetz manages to stop the report on his sex scandal
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