It reads: “Due to recent terrorist activity worldwide, we again urge U.S. citizens and staff at U.S. missions to exercise caution and vary their routes and times when traveling to and from work and pay close attention to their personal security. U.S. citizens should consider avoiding demonstrations, crowds and other large public gatherings.”

The announcement does not provide further details, but states that the American Citizen Services Unit of the U.S. Embassy may be reached at +507 317-5030 for updated information from 10:30 a.m. to noon and 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 10:30 a.m. to noon on Fridays.

“Finally the first 4 boats donated by Italy arrive the 27th in Colon. They should be received in the Pacific on the 30th,” President Ricardo Martinelli tweeted. “The morbid curiosity can end.”

The contract for these controversial boats was negotiated by Valter Lavitola, the Italian businessman being held in Naples on charges of international corruption.

According to the investigation underway in Italy, the six boats donated to Panama are junk that have been refurbished by the Finmeccanica company.

Deputy Jose Blandon alleges that Martinelli said the boats are worth more than $200 million when they are really scrap rehabbed for less than $20 million.

Under the accord, signed by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Panama will receive a grant from Luxembourg for a technical assistance program to expedite procedures for the creation and operation of national and foreign companies.

National Trade Director Virgil Sousa explained that it will be easier to create companies through the Panama Emprende system, which will reduce operational red tape.

Experts from Central America and Europe will visit Panama to examine how the processes can be streamlined, La Prensa reports.

He says that construction is moving at a “good rhythm” with the help of approximately 3,000 workers from 21 countries. Scheduled for completion in February 2014, the Metro will begin operation with 19 three-car trains.

The financing of the $1.88 billion investment is being handled by Citibank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Andean Development Corporation and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, with the support of institutions such as Coface of France, Cesce of Spain and the World Bank.

The Metro is the first to be built in Central America and will transport up to 30,000 passengers per hour in both directions, stopping at 13 stations along the eight-mile route. If the Secretary of the Metro’s math is correct, that is 525,000 people a day.

See Also: Martinelli: Metro Ready By 2013, Traffic in 2012 and Panama Metro Project Kicks Off

In the first three months of the year, there have been 263 homicides – 49 percent of which were social crimes, 17 percent tied to organized crime and the rest attributed to other motives.

If the math correct, this means that the country’s homicide rate is 7.1% per 100,000 inhabitants or translates to 2.2 murders a day.

According to these official Ministry of Security statistics, a third of all crimes were committed on 6 p.m. Sunday and 6 a.m. Monday, and 46 percent of the victims are between ages 18 and 29. The most commonly used weapon is the firearm.

The district of Belisario Porras has registered the most murders at 22, followed by Juan Diaz with 19, Pacora with 12, Pedregal with 11, Calidonia with 11 and Alcalde Diaz with 10.

La Critica reports.

Responding to an anonymous call on Friday, Police discovered the body of a man in the La Vecindad building between streets 13 and 14 in Santa Ana. The man – approximately age 25 and Serbian – was found shoeless, stabbed over 50 times and covered with a sheet, El Siglo reports.

Killed by machete - 

Jose de la Cruz Arenas, age 75, was macheteed to death in the El Tecal de Caimitillo community of Chilibre on Thursday night. His family found his body severely cut in the neck, head, abdomen and mostly to the heart. His face was sprayed with sulfur, and the murder weapon was found nearby nailed into an open bible. Authorities arrested a 65-year-old man who had reportedly argued with the victim days before.

Shot nine times in Los Abanicos -

Mario Alberto Espinoza, age 24, was shot nine times on Sunday. Authorities found his body in the Los Abanicos sector of David, shot in the thigh, calf and back. They have categorized Los Abanicos as a dangerous zone due to the increase of crimes in recent months.

 Caught ransacking bulldozer - 

The police arrested five people Monday morning for stealing from a bulldozer in Pacora. A worker spotted the subjects and called the police who found the thieves holding several gallons of diesel and accessories valued at more than $14,000.

After its official opening in October, the hotel – Hard Rock’s first in Latin America – will have 7.5% of the 20,000 hotel rooms projected for the 2014 Panama market. Half of these will have been built between 2010 and 2014.

Although tourism is growing, occupancy percentages have been in decline due to the increased offer.

Other hotel brands arriving to Panama are The Waldorf Astoria on Calle Uruguay with 126 rooms and the Hilton Panama on Balboa Avenue with 351 rooms.

“He has slandered me,” Martinelli said. “I have been wronged, and I want the legal authorities to resolve these cases, that it not be settled in the social media but through legal channels.”

The two men have been verbally attacking each other in the media this week, and Varela refuses to resign as per the president’s request.

Rosendo, Rivera & Associates will be representing the president who is reportedly demanding $30 million for moral damages.

Ricardo Martinelli (left) and Juan Carlos Varela (right), 2010 PHOTO La Prensa

]]> http://www.thepanamadigest.com/2012/05/president-sues-vice-president/feed/ 2 http://www.thepanamadigest.com/2012/05/president-asks-vice-president-for-his-resignation/ http://www.thepanamadigest.com/2012/05/president-asks-vice-president-for-his-resignation/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 16:54:48 +0000 pa.di. http://www.thepanamadigest.com/?p=17890 President Ricardo Martinelli has asked Vice President Juan Carlos Varela to resign.

The president respectfully requested that the vice president be a man and accept his responsibilities, saying that if Varela feels that he has held his position merely as a matter of protocol then he should leave.

Meanwhile, Varela says that he will only resign if the people who elected him to his position wish him to. He added that the president should focus on clearing up the Panamanian government’s implication in the recent international corruption scandal.

“I do not serve the President…much less a corrupt one,” Varela told Prensa.com.

Erick Bairnals Shocks, age 35 and  a technical officer of the Panama Maritime Authority, reportedly invited an unnamed Filipino woman, age 19, to dinner on April 23, 2011. After dinner, the woman says that the officer invited her to his home on false pretenses, forced her to sniff a drug and then raped her. In an interview with the Efe news agency, Bairnals Shocks denied this account of the events, stating that the sex was consensual.

The Department of Foreign Affairs issued a certification of diplomatic immunity that freed the accused last week, but the Senate now wonders why precedence is being given to this immunity over the rights of the victim and the international conventions on human rights.

“A close reading of the Vienna Convention privilege does not provide protection and benefits for the diplomat as an individual acting outside of official task,” Senator Loren Legarda said. “Diplomatic immunity can’t be absolute. It does not provide unlimited immunity to all classes of diplomats.”

“Is rape a privilege to enjoy?” Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III asked.