Former President Martín Torrijos (2004 – 2009) is among the favorites to apply again for the Presidency of Panama, already away from the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) founded by his father, the historic General Omar Torrijos, and sure that his father would have taken the same path.
Omar Torrijos “had the courage to achieve a transformation and I am sure that, a long time ago, he would have made the decision to opt for another political instrument that was based on the economic and social development of Panamanians and not for the benefit of those who today lead that party (PRD),” Torrijos, 60, said in an interview with EFE.
Torrijos, whom a recent poll by the newspaper La Prensa places in second place, equaled with Ricardo Lombana with 10.8% of voting intention, and both removed from the 26% of Raúl Mulino, substitute for the disabled former president Ricardo Martinelli, is now running as a presidential candidate with the minority Popular Party (PP).
Two decades ago Torrijos did rule with the PRD, which is now going through its worst crisis between indications of corruption and dissents within the formation.
“The party moved away from the principles and values with which it was established and ceased to be an option of social transformation towards the future,” says that PRD that 20 years ago brought him to power and from which it officially separated at the beginning of this year after launching into the political campaign.
Advertisement
20260101_dengue_cubeta_728x90
20260101_dengue_barril_728x90
20260101_dengue_llanta_728x90
20260101_dengue_pileta_728x90
20260224_estafa_mh_728x90
20260212_constancia_pagos_mh_728x90
20250901_vacunacion_vsr-728x90
20250901_minsal_tetra_-728x90
20250701_vacunacion-influenza-728x90
20250701_vacunacion_vph-728x90
20250715_donacion_sangre_central_728x90
20231124_etesal_728x90_1
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90
domfuturo_netview-728x90
20240604_dom_728x90
CEL
Openly “torrijista”, Martín Torrijos alleges that “there is no way” not to feel proud of “what he is”, the surname he bears and the legacy of his father, who led that Panamanian revolution that ruled de facto between 1968 and 1981, the year in which he died in a plane crash.
Despite the distance from the party, he hides behind his father’s ideology, “torrijismo”, that political thought created by the general in the middle of the socialist current of the twentieth century in Latin America but that was never “neither with the left nor with the right, but with Panama,” a phrase frequently used by Omar Torrijos.
“I was born and I will die torrijista. But I think that this election (separating from the PRD) is not about a political party but about solving the problems of the people,” says Torrijos, who also defends that “at the end of the day it is a form of government” and “goes beyond a party.”
“It is the force that allowed the Panamanians to regain their sovereignty, that the country would progress more equitably. That is not in a political party but in that will and ideology,” he says.
The Panama Canal, administered by Panamanian hands since 1999 after the Torrijos-Carter Treaties promoted by General Torrijos, which put an end to the control that the United States maintained since its inauguration in 1914, is going through an unprecedented water crisis due to the prolonged drought, which lowered the water levels of the main lakes and reduced the number of daily transits.
Advertisement
20260101_dengue_cubeta_728x90
20260101_dengue_barril_728x90
20260101_dengue_llanta_728x90
20260101_dengue_pileta_728x90
20260224_estafa_mh_728x90
20260212_constancia_pagos_mh_728x90
20250901_vacunacion_vsr-728x90
20250901_minsal_tetra_-728x90
20250701_vacunacion-influenza-728x90
20250701_vacunacion_vph-728x90
20250715_donacion_sangre_central_728x90
20231124_etesal_728x90_1
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90
domfuturo_netview-728x90
20240604_dom_728x90
CEL
This situation that drags the way, and for which there is still no long-term solution, could reduce toll revenues by 800 million dollars in this fiscal year, after in 2023 the Canal delivered to the Panamanian Government the historic annual amount of 2,544.59 million dollars.
Torrijos proposes to solve this problem to “expand the basin” of the Panama Canal, following the alternatives identified by the Canal such as the use of the Indian River, the neighboring basin to the west of the road.
“Unquestionably, that decision must be made to guarantee (also) access to water for human consumption and I have proposed that the administration of the Panama Canal assume the administration of water treatment plants, a new role for the Canal in terms of development,” adds Torrijos.
The two artificial lakes Lago Gatún and Alhajuela supply the road and serve for the consumption of drinking water of about 2.5 million inhabitants, out of 4 million in the country.
“There will be other roles that the Panama Canal does not have today that must be achieved (…) because it is not only a channel through which ships pass, but that brings development to the country,” says the candidate.
Advertisement
20260101_dengue_cubeta_728x90
20260101_dengue_barril_728x90
20260101_dengue_llanta_728x90
20260101_dengue_pileta_728x90
20260224_estafa_mh_728x90
20260212_constancia_pagos_mh_728x90
20250901_vacunacion_vsr-728x90
20250901_minsal_tetra_-728x90
20250701_vacunacion-influenza-728x90
20250701_vacunacion_vph-728x90
20250715_donacion_sangre_central_728x90
20231124_etesal_728x90_1
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90
domfuturo_netview-728x90
20240604_dom_728x90
CEL
That “new role” of the Panama Canal is included in its government plan, which suggests that the administration of the road is “the governing body of all port concessions and or pipelines, gas pipelines, logistics corridors and any other future concession that supports the development” of the country’s position.
“So that we can integrate, with criteria of efficiency and competitiveness, the promotion of the consolidated route of Panama, which takes us to our country in the most important, efficient and competitive ‘hub’ (center) of loading and distribution of all the Americas,” he explains.
Panama launches anti-drone measures as prison security crisis deepens
Panama will restrict airspace around its prisons to prevent drones from delivering drugs and weapons to inmates, President José Raúl Mulino announced Thursday as his administration moves to address a growing prison security crisis.
The measure is part of a broader strategy that includes the construction of a new penitentiary designed to isolate gang leaders, according to the president.
“We are implementing an airspace blocking system so that drones can no longer fly over the prisons,” Mulino told reporters during a visit to the province of Bocas del Toro.
The system was tested last week with the aim of preventing drones from nearby areas from being used to transport or drop drugs inside correctional facilities, the president added.
Panama’s prison system has faced increasing pressure following the escape of nearly 200 inmates from La Joyita prison, located near Panama City, on January 1. Most of the prisoners have since been recaptured.
Advertisement
20260101_dengue_cubeta_728x90
20260101_dengue_barril_728x90
20260101_dengue_llanta_728x90
20260101_dengue_pileta_728x90
20260224_estafa_mh_728x90
20260212_constancia_pagos_mh_728x90
20250901_vacunacion_vsr-728x90
20250901_minsal_tetra_-728x90
20250701_vacunacion-influenza-728x90
20250701_vacunacion_vph-728x90
20250715_donacion_sangre_central_728x90
20231124_etesal_728x90_1
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90
domfuturo_netview-728x90
20240604_dom_728x90
CEL
The security situation gained further attention after the escape and the June 17 killing of a 10-year-old girl in the capital, who was caught in a hit attack targeting her stepfather.
Following the La Joyita prison break, Mulino said the country’s penitentiary system had “collapsed” and announced last week, during his annual government report, plans to build a facility aimed at separating high-ranking gang members from the general prison population.
“The system collapsed, not only because of organization but because of corruption. All the drugs and weapons that enter prisons pass through a door, and there is someone — whether a prison guard or a member of the national police — who allows them to enter,” Mulino said Thursday.
Panama recorded a homicide rate of 14.2 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2025. However, the Caribbean province of Colón registered a rate three times higher than the national average.
Meanwhile, the country’s prisons currently hold around 24,000 inmates, despite having capacity for only 14,700, according to official figures.
Regional Naval Operations Strike Drug Cartels, Disrupting Cocaine and Weapons Trafficking Routes
Transnational operations carried out by regional naval forces, including El Salvador’s National Navy, the United States Coast Guard, and Mexico’s Secretariat of the Navy (SEMAR), have dealt significant blows to international drug trafficking organizations.
The operations have not only led to the seizure of massive cocaine shipments, such as the 6.68 metric tons of cocaine valued at approximately $167 million presented last Wednesday by El Salvador’s Security Cabinet, but have also resulted in the confiscation of high-powered weapons allegedly intended as payment to criminal organizations, according to Security Minister Gustavo Villatoro.
“Based on the strength of the data, not just the narratives, we can state that our National Navy has documented the only known operation in the Pacific Ocean in which a criminal organization from the south was transporting drugs and exchanging them with a group from the north for firearms,” Villatoro said.
The exchange of weapons for drugs between criminal groups in the Pacific Ocean represents a logistical method in which South American cartels from countries such as Colombia and Ecuador negotiate with Mexican and Central American organizations to trade military-grade weapons for cocaine shipments.
Regional naval authorities have identified that meeting points located farther from the coastline in international waters make it easier for armed groups to receive supplies and carry out exchanges undetected. As a result, El Salvador’s National Navy deploys teams from the Trident Naval Task Force (FTNT) aboard maritime patrol vessels to intercept these operations.
Advertisement
20260101_dengue_cubeta_728x90
20260101_dengue_barril_728x90
20260101_dengue_llanta_728x90
20260101_dengue_pileta_728x90
20260224_estafa_mh_728x90
20260212_constancia_pagos_mh_728x90
20250901_vacunacion_vsr-728x90
20250901_minsal_tetra_-728x90
20250701_vacunacion-influenza-728x90
20250701_vacunacion_vph-728x90
20250715_donacion_sangre_central_728x90
20231124_etesal_728x90_1
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90
domfuturo_netview-728x90
20240604_dom_728x90
CEL
Initially, the patrol units are ordered to travel up to 200 nautical miles offshore, but later receive instructions from the Maritime Operations Center to extend their missions beyond 1,000 nautical miles, reaching coordinates used by drug trafficking vessels operating in the open sea.
“We cannot lose focus on the routes these criminal organizations use to move drugs,” Minister Villatoro said, emphasizing the importance of maintaining surveillance over the various maritime corridors used for narcotics trafficking.
Violent Killings of Women in Honduras Remain High During First Half of 2026
Violent deaths of women remain a major concern in Honduras, according to preliminary data released by the Violence Observatory of the National Autonomous University of Honduras.
Between January and June 2026, the country recorded 139 violent deaths of women, one more than the 138 reported during the same period in 2025.
The Observatory’s director, Migdonia Ayestas, said that although the increase is minimal, the figures confirm that violence against women remains a persistent problem.
“Violence against women is a serious issue. The ways in which they are being killed have become increasingly brutal and inhumane,” Ayestas said.
She explained that documented cases include dismemberment, beheadings, sexual assaults, and bodies abandoned in public places, acts that she said reflect the violence carried out by criminal organizations.
Advertisement
20260101_dengue_cubeta_728x90
20260101_dengue_barril_728x90
20260101_dengue_llanta_728x90
20260101_dengue_pileta_728x90
20260224_estafa_mh_728x90
20260212_constancia_pagos_mh_728x90
20250901_vacunacion_vsr-728x90
20250901_minsal_tetra_-728x90
20250701_vacunacion-influenza-728x90
20250701_vacunacion_vph-728x90
20250715_donacion_sangre_central_728x90
20231124_etesal_728x90_1
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90
domfuturo_netview-728x90
20240604_dom_728x90
CEL
Ayestas stressed that the analysis should go beyond the number of victims and focus on the effectiveness of the justice system.
“We should not only count how many women are killed, but also how many cases are investigated, how many arrests are made, and how many reach the courts,” she said.
According to the Observatory, more than 8,000 women have died violent deaths in Honduras since 2005, leaving thousands of children orphaned.
Ayestas also called for stronger prevention efforts, improved education, and more effective criminal investigations to address the crisis. She argued that the current state of emergency alone has not been sufficient to dismantle criminal organizations or significantly reduce violence, emphasizing the need for comprehensive strategies to prevent these crimes and combat impunity.
The first-half figures for 2026 underscore that violence against women remains one of Honduras’ most pressing security and human rights challenges.
