Palacios reappears, walks on water

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Palacios (left) with Gustavo Perez at a press conference.

We don't know about you, dear reader, but we have tremendously enjoyed the great Palacios show over the last days. He was missing. The police said "we know nutting". Then everybody got angry and demanded an investigation and, voilá! There was Palacios!

The good news: He does not have to be added to the list of people who were murdered by the police. The bad news: We STILL don't know what happened. La Prensa added it all up and lists now no less than seven different versions of events. Palacios was protesting. He was not protesting. Mysterious black men beat him up and the police brought him to a hospital. There were no black men and he was seen being arrested by the police on Finca 66. He came out of the hospital and went looking for work. The hospital has no record of him being there, and denies anyone unconscious was brought in at the date the police claims.

And it doesn't stop there. The police said they found him within 72 hours. But his family wasn't informed. He remains in the police clinic, guarded, and nobody can explain why.

So, someone is lying. Given Mr. Gustavo Perez's history, we have our own ideas about what really happened here. And in any case, can't these people get at least their lies straight?

The Panamanian chapter of Human Rights Everywhere has sensibly demanded an impartial investigation into what really happened here.

Meanwhile, the uneducated bunch of thugs that passes for "government" in this country continues its bizarre tactics of repression. Magaly Castillo, head of the Pro-Justice Alliance, was summoned to the prosecutors office because she had accompanied the delegation that filed the habeas corpus with the judicial madhouse Supreme Court in favor of Valentín Palacios when he was still missing. She refused to make any statement there as she was denied the right to a lawyer. The public ministry is, as you know, headed by our pseudo-procurador Guiseppe Bonissi, who was caught in some good old-fashioned acts of nepotism giving jobs to family members of his ex-wife.

32 thoughts on “Palacios reappears, walks on water

  1. Since nobody is telling the truth about the Palacios mystery, I feel free to speculate. My take is that Palacios was shit-scared when he realized that the police started to shoot at the rioters and simply went into hiding. Not everybody is heroe you know.

    When he came out of this hiding place he could not admit that he was actually a “sapo” (police informant) thus enjoying police protection and given his poor IQ he was unable to remember the official story that he was supposed to tell the press.

  2. Palacios was looking for a job (camaron) but he ended up in the demostrations and riots where he was picked up by security (2 morenos). Palacios was beaten to a pulp in a back street and left for dead. Anti-riot police “cleaners” took him away for a hasty burial but were shocked to discover that he was still alive and kicking. Thus, they could not bury the evidence so they kept him in hiding until receiving further instructions from higher ups.

  3. @Sapo: I have no way of knowing if what you say is true, but it sure sounds a hell of a lot more consistent than the official stories!

  4. Mhhhhmmmm, again, why would they feel compelled to keep him alive. If he is so badly beaten that he is left for dead, in the heat of the moment it makes more sense to let him die, rather than get him the care he needs to recover. They could indeed have buried the evidence. The Anti motines came to clean up, they did not come to perform acts of charity and take care of the wounded. With so many badly wounded, who ended up, officially, in the hospital, some in much worse shape than Palacio could have been, looking at the fact that he still has his face together, why “fix” this one up in hiding?

  5. Why in each and every Interview is he wearing a very heavy Jacket and Baseball cap?

    Why is Gustavo Perez all ways within eye and ear contact of him?

    What happened to his ear?

    He sure looks like he was physically tortured by sock and soap method?

    Then he was sleep deprived for about two weeks?

    Of Course this is just pure speculation on my Part?

    Panama where the Police have turned into Narco terrorist?

    Panama truly is becoming an old third world nation, which kills and tortures the innocent to protect the guilty corrupt Police, Government Ministers, and the multi-national corporations?

    Reminds me of Mexico fifteen year ago under Fox and now Calderon!

    Soon no body will be safe any where in Panama!

    “Panama where the numbers never add up”

  6. @Dr Dias – the guy has big ears – you can see this in the original photo.I also dont see how one could derive at the conclusion that he has been either sleep deprived and/or tortured from this photo. Perhaps if you saw him in person.
    I find it encouraging that if indeed they “had” him, public outcry made them release him and I find it encouraging that Martinelli backed down on a couple of issues when he had stated he would not during the riots, and I find it encouraging that the government admitted to having made mistakes. Let us see what happens to Ley 30.
    I would say we are a long way from being like Mexico still. Let us hope it stays this way or better yet improve.
    The recent events have shown that the participation of people does make a difference.

  7. Why would they keep him alive while waiting for further instructions? Sheesh I am not a psychic! Come on! I can think of a couple of possibilities. A) They kept him alive to torture him and flip him to become an ngobe informant (a sapo). B) To trade him for the two anti-riot police initially kept captive by the ngobe mob as hostages.

  8. As usual frombocas you seem to need thicker rose colored glasses!

    You can not tell by the TV and still photographs some thing is very odd, wrong and out of place with his actions and confusion!

    No, you would not know that such things can happen here in Panama!

    They happen all the time now, they t go unreported and hidden!

    You have never been held against your will or retained by authorities with out due process, probable cause or legal warrants.

    This Panamanian Government has admitted to nothing except a lack of poor judgment on the way they were embarrassed about issuing the violence and aggression against it’s own poor people!

    Even in the Philippines they arrest and Prosecute the Police for maiming, beating, shooting, and torturing it citizens.

    The Panamanian Police have complete immunity under Law 30!

    Who has been held accountable and arrested for this killing and maiming of the People of Panama by the Police?

    By the way the people of Mexico said the same thing two decades ago!

    Now they live under a complete Police state, not control by the central Government but by the Narco cartels, the Army, and the Police!

    Yes, give me your rebuttal!

    The facts still remain the same!

    The ground work is in Place just like Mexico to turn Panama into a complete police Narco state just like twenty one years ago!

    What justice?

    None here in Panama unless you are rich and connected!

    “Panama where the numbers never add up”

  9. @Dr. Dias: I don’t see things going the way of Mexico here, the country is too small and the gringos probably would intervene. But I CAN see it going the way of Colombia, with a government dominated by narco interests, paramilitary ties, etc. – but without the FARC.

  10. I also think that two decades ago Palacio would NOT have reappeared – he would have been diseappeared with many more. Things have changed with you tube and the internet. It is no longer a bubble. Also the people in Changuinola would have been totally repressed – now they could not because others were watching and uploading videos on you tubes. It may not change rapidly, but I think new technology is helping. Do you think 20 years ago Torijos or Noriega would have said, oopps sorry, we are going to look at this decree again????
    I agree with some of what you have to say and I think there is still a long way to go, but the fact that people protested and the government had to back away gives me hope. Everyone is watching now – this is not the 70’s or 80’s. I hope to god I am right and you are wrong. If you lose hope you cannot change things. What legacy do you leave your children and what do you live for? Change and true democracy has evolved in countries smaller than Panama. Why not here too?

  11. @FROMBOCAS: I think you are absolutely right… Others are wrong, going as far as suggesting that the police “killed and disappeared” Palacios, like in the bad old days of Torrijos and Noriega’s dictatorship, when he most likely was a stupid police informant cowardly in hiding under police protection to avoid problemss with his “fellow rioters”.

  12. @FROMBOCAS: I think you are absolutely right and this site’s best commentator… Others are wrong, going as far as suggesting that the police “killed and disappeared” Palacios, like in the bad old days of Torrijos and Noriega’s dictatorship, when he most likely was a stupid police informant cowardly hiding under police protection to avoid repraisals from the “fellow rioters” that he betrayed.

    • @XIO: I agree and I don’t. You don’t need a dictatorship to have disappearances, state-sanctioned murder, paramilitary death squads. It’s just a 45 minutes flight that will take you right to the heart of a Latin American “democracy” where they have all that, and more. There is already a lot of talk in Panama about paramilitary squads, supposedly Gustavo Perez even admitted as much. So I’m not dismissing those who fear the worst in cases like this. I mean, they DID kill eight or more people in Bocas with impunity.

  13. @Dr Dias
    http://www.coha.org/a-message-to-martinelli-the-international-community-is-watching/
    I am far from thinking that things are perfect. I may be optimistic, but I am not stupid. However I do think that people have the power to change things. IF, BIG IF, they have the staying power to protest injustice. Law 30 has provided a platform to test this out.
    @XIO, Thanks – perhaps I can now quit my day job. The verdict is still out on Palacios We are all speculating. We may never know the truth.

  14. What is so interesting here is the amount of petty drug dealers and/or Petty criminals shot in the head with one shot and discovered by the Police within minutes?

    This is so similar to the dead squads of other National police units from other countries and professional Narco hits?

    Not just gang members out to settle a local dispute?

    The People of Mexico stated and believed that these where random acts of violence, criminal against criminal back a few years ago also.

    Now they have discovered to their utter horror that the Narco’s, the Police(National and local) and the Army are really acting to eliminate each other for the billions drug cash and territory!

    Innocent citizens are routinely arrested, jailed, tortured, and even murdered for the simple act of disagreeing with the Narco’s, the Police and the Army of Mexico?

    But, of course Panama is too small and above these types of atrocities to do anything to the innocent population here in Panama!

    I guess Panama is too civilized to commit any type corruption, thief, and imprisonment by it’s political leaders and Police & Security leadership?

    I really truly hope this where not true!

    I guess you can bury your head in the sand?

    Hopefully you will still be alive to tell the tale after assuming an upright position?

    Seriously, this is an issue that is just the tip of the Ice berg!

    Hopefully the Panamanian Government will not let this happen?

    But the roots are already woven within!

  15. @Dr Dias. To think there is nothing you can do about things and accept it as accomplished fact is also a form of keeping your head in the sand. As opposed to the courageous people who take it to the street risking their lives (as neither you nor I have done in the recent past I would assume) and their lives they risked indeed. Are you saying they are doing it for nothing? I cannot argue the fact that there is daily corruption and theft here every day. What I disagree with is the doom and gloom, we are all dead scenario. I cannot live like that. News sites like this one and Eric jackson and to some extent La estrella, and once in awhile La prensa are exposing these things, and a few of us can take limited actions such as alerting foreign media, bombarding the government with e-mails, sending money to keep news alive, and or to help the people who have been hurt. I am not foolish to think it will change right away, but at least I am seeing some reaction from the people for the first time in 15 years. THAT gives me hope. Panama is not beyond doing atrocities to its people. the Noriega years remind us of that. I am not even saying that the current regime is beyond being able to commit any atrocities against its people. But now it is much more of a fish bowl and the government will be able to get away with less and less. Until drugs are legalized, it will always be central to much of the bad things that happen (here and worldwide). But what I am talking about is democracy and what happened with ley 30. Although there may be areas where things intersect, to me these are two different issues and two different fights.

  16. I think this case has been based in gossips, lies and disinformation from the first place, and I’ll try to explain why. People put their focus in the government version, making all kinds of theories and accusations, and don’t realize how this whole thing started in the first place.

    The father of Palacio officially reported he was disappeared on July 23 (See this blog from July 23: http://tinyurl.com/2edtrls and TVN News July 26: http://tinyurl.com/2aojvjt ) That’s 15 days after he was supposedly arrested by the police. Normally, people report something like this in the first 72 hours or less. Why did he wait so long? I don’t know.

    He based his claim in the testimony he heard from a friend of his son: Julio Thomas Guerra. Guerra supposedly told him that he was with Palacio in the riot; that Palacio received pellets shots, and that he was arrested by the police on July 8 in Finca 66. Then his friend claimed on July 26 that it was him who received the shots, and was arrested, not Palacio, and that he wasn’t with Palacio on that day. (From La Prensa July 17: http://tinyurl.com/32ct5sn )

    So Palacio’s father is not a witness, because he “heard” he was arrested, and Guerra isn’t either because he said he wasn’t with him. The next question is where are the other witnesses and testimonies that said he was arrested by the police on July 8, as Okke, Magaly Castillo, Mauro Zuñiga and the civil society said?

    Okke respond me that “several others reported the disappearance” ( http://www.bananamarepublic.com/?p=1413 ). Magally Castillo said on July 12 (La Prensa http://tinyurl.com/38t56wj ) that “Palacio was seen for the last time being arrested by the police”. She insisted on July 18 that “there are several witnesses that saw Palacio being arrested” (La Prensa: http://tinyurl.com/37df4cg ). She said that Alianza Pro Justicia presented the Habeas Corpus against the chief of the police Gustavo Pérez, based in the testimonies of the report of Human Rights Everywhere (HREV). So let’s go to the report and look for those testimonies.

    We can read it here: http://tinyurl.com/2capboz It was published on August 4, and updated on August 18. Look for the part of Palacio and read the “testimonies of witnesses”. There aren’t. There isn’t a testimony with a name of a person, or an ID number to identify the claim, or a reference document, video or audio. They make only references of news that were released after Palacio appeared. The first version of the report ( http://tinyurl.com/38qlcwx ) mention a reference number (Ficha166), but the updated one, doesn’t. So at the end it is a bogus claim, and we come back again to the testimony of the father, which as I said before, is not a witness.

    So where are the “several witnesses and testimonies” that people claim, if the original report that they use as reference doesn’t have them? I asked Okke where was the proof of the witnesses, and he didn’t answered. He deleted my post, but the other commentator Faustino, read it because I mentioned something about the CPR video of one of the protester, and he responded to it, so I’m not lying.

    It seems that Alianza Pro Justicia tried to used the report as a proof, which is not. As Denzel Washington said in Training Day: “Is not what you know, is what you can prove”. Castillo is a lawyer, she knows she can’t assume things, and what is worse, they presented a Habeas Corpus against the police without having their facts straight. So now that the prosecutor ask her to bring the proof that she was claiming publicly, she said that she doesn’t know a thing of the case. Does that make sense?

    I mentioned the HREV report. Paco Gómez Nadal defends the report as “independent and responsible” ( http://tinyurl.com/2vwuryb ). Well, I say it is not independent and it is far from being responsible. We know that Gómez Nadal write a lot against the government. Sometimes I agree with him, but when I don’t, I comment on his articles with valid arguments why he is wrong, and La Prensa doesn’t post my comments. Today I tried again, and they didn’t publish it, so it makes me wonder why the journalists complain so much that there is no “freedom of speech” in Panama.

    Besides being a journalist, Gómez Nadal is the legal representative of HREV. Of course he’s gonna defend it.
    The report based a lot of its claims in the reports already made by “Defensoría del Pueblo” ( http://tinyurl.com/25v4nu ) published on July 25, and from CEASPA ( http://tinyurl.com/3ysr5nf ), so it is not totally independent. The Palacio case is not mentioned in “Defensoría del Pueblo” report, neither in CEASPA. The HREV goes further with new and bizarre testimonies about the prisoners that conveniently don’t appear in the other reports, such as: “the police put gasoline in the prisoners’ food”; “they put vinegar on their wounds”; “women got stripped and humillated”, etc. Again, there are no names or ID’s of the witnesses and testimonies whatsoever. No attachments mentioning transcriptions, videos, audio, or anything that can be use as proof of their clams. Even the words “mujer”, “mujeres”, or “damas” don’t appear in the Defensoría del Pueblo report, so how they claim women were stripped and humiliated? In any part of the world, this report won’t be consider “responsible” as Gómez Nadal said, but it seems that in Panama it does.

    Additionally the HREV gave the report to Kyung-Hwa Kang, a Human Rights Commissioner of the UN. So now Panama is painted as a dictatorship, because a NGO we didn’t know it existed, is publishing a story without giving the right facts, and without being responsible on it. That’s what you call disinformation, by creating the perception that we are living in a state of terror, affecting the whole country (not only the government), and creating unnecessary clashes between groups. Those are the things that are happening today, and should stop.

  17. The thing is, no matter who you listen to, which side you listen to, there is a multitude of contradictions. As someone posted many indians diseappear for several days in Bocas. I live here, and yes, it happens. But did Palacio not state he was unconscious for several weeks. Would there not be a hospital with a record of that? Palacio could have disappeared and reappeared after a week and that would be the end of the story. No harm no foul., But the fact that noone can keep their stories straight, is puzzling indeed. If nothing happened why are facts so confused and contradictory?
    Now as far as your time line (and I will check your links since you took the time to post them) since things were so chaotic in Bocas for 2 weeks, I could see it would have taken the father two weeks to report his son missing. Some people were taken to Panama City, some people to Changuinola, it was a mess.
    Could there not be an examination of his body to see if indeed he received pellet shots, or if he was beaten? Why on earth would the police keep him guarded at the hospital, like they would do for a criminal or head of state. Regular indigenas do not rate a guard at their hospital door or “special care”. That is a fact. I have visited enough friends at the hospital to know that.
    I want a peaceful Panama. We did not bargain for corruption, or Wild Bill, or out of control gvnt. So it is not like we are looking for problems where there are not. We have our fair share of real ones. But I want to know who is lying in this story. Because someone is. This gvnt is losing credibility, and that is a fact. So if you are telling me some gvnt report are missing details, well, I am not surprised. They are not known for details and good work.
    I dont think YOU are lying. You are looking at this situation with your political filter and I am looking at it with mine. And again, this is coming from a HUGE fan of Panama. I had great hopes that Martinelli was going to changes things for the better. So far I am very disappointed. As are many CD people.
    I hope he listen to his people, and that he rectify his course. He can bring us into first world status or plunge us in some despotic third world civil dictatorship.

  18. And I forget. The timing. He is unconscious for several weeks – and when everyone is screaming about this, and writing e-mails and making phone calls, and news stories are written, all of the sudden he reappears with the police chief???!!!! He should have been rolling out of the woods, starved and unshaven and incoherent. Well, he was sort of incoherent, I will grant you that.

  19. @GreatJournalism: In the first Human Rights Everywhere report that I read and translated here, there were various quotations from people they had interviewed about police abuse. They didn’t print the names, for obvious reasons, but I’m pretty sure you could verify it with them if you don’t trust them.

    You wonder why the father took so long to report his son missing. The answer lies in previous statements coming from the government and its supporters, which has also been quoted here: It’s not unusual for indigenous people living in remote areas to disappear for some time. Anyone who has had an indigenous maid in Panama can tell you that. So the most logical reason is that the father didn’t suspect anything was wrong until it took longer than usual.

    As for witnesses, I have quoted here what others have said. You may be right, and then again you may not. Again, this might be verified with the HR group or others.

    What we DO know for a fact is that the various stories coming from officialdom alone do not add up in any way. They contradict each other and lack consistency. Even though I agree that there is too much speculation and not enough fact finding, that fact stands: What the government says in combination with Palacios’s story can not possibly all be true. And when the authorities tell lies, you have to wonder why.

  20. FromBocas: I didn’t read that it was unconscious for “several weeks”, only one week, but according to just one newspaper. The newspapers that covered this case don’t make sense with each other either. Look at this:

    According to La Estrella from August 16 ( http://tinyurl.com/2cgcj8y ) the people that attacked him “kept him for a week”. Kept him??? Where??? He was found later by the priest Albino Arcia “in the hospital”. Don’t mention the timing or if he was unconscious and for how long.

    But according to La Prensa from August 17 ( http://tinyurl.com/32ct5sn ) after he was beaten, he “woke up in a hospital a week later”, and a friend of him “took him to his house for 15 days” until “he was found last Sunday by the priest Arcia on Almirante’s Terminal” not the hospital. That makes 3 weeks from the beaten.

    So we have two versions by two newspapers that went to the same press conference. Who is telling the story that actually was said in the conference? I haven’t seen the video footage, so I can’t judge by myself what newspaper is telling Palacio version straight.

    The priest asked for the police custody, because it said they were threatened. By who? Don’t specify (Can’t remember the link) but they were asked to stay in a hotel or police station. They decided the police station http://tinyurl.com/2c8b8ys

    Next monday RCM Channel 21 will have a special report on this case at 6:00 pm. I hope they show the press conference again.

    • The story is not contradicting newspapers. The story is the government and its allies telling different versions simultaneously. And RCM, doing a “special”? Gimme a break….. Who owned that sorry excuse for a TV station again?

  21. @great Journalism: So there must be a video of that news conference. It would be good if it could be posted on You tube. Raw footage would be best. Then we can Judge for ourselves.
    If you are CD, which I assume you must be, imagine for a minute PRD in power and this is happening, SAME story (stories) different players. Be truthful and tell me you would not think it is a little weird. There is a reason several newspapers are reporting different stories, dont you think? They often make mistakes, I will grant you that, but for everyone to be totally incompetent on the same story? It is so weird and complicated it deserves a “special”? I would the first person to be happy if indeed “nothing” had happened. I would be relieved because I dont want to live in a police state. BUT, if something DID happen, that should not have happened, I want the responsible parties called on it. And for them to know they will be called on it in the future.

  22. The other newspapers have the same story that La Prensa has, only that they went in more details. The only one that has a different version is La Estrella. So don’t assume so quick that the government is the one telling different stories. We should see the video footage.

    Does it matters who own the TV station or newspaper? Who give a well balanced new story or information in Panama anyway? I don’t see it in RPC, TVN, or Telemetro, neither La Estrella or La Prensa, and neither I see it in your website. I don’t see it with HREV that didn’t interview the police, and should know that a “responsible” report should be signed by someone at the end. But you use their news and info to make your points anyway. So again… who give a well balanced new story or info in Panama? I’m the one that should say gimme a break.

    Do you actually watch RCM, or do you have a pre-judgment to not watch it? If you do, you’ll notice that they get different points of view, something that others don’t do. I’ll give you an example:

    Before Ana Matilde Gomez was condemned, during seven months I saw her on TV defending her case. She went to TV shows to one on one interviews, but never with a lawyer that could give a legal reason refuting her claims. I even saw her in “Debate Abierto” of RPC, a show that supposedly is about “debates” without an expert lawyer refuting her. Only with the interviewer and a political analyst that didn’t know about law.

    But RCM’s “Encontremos Soluciones” showed during those same seven months, legal arguments why she should be condemned. I saw PRD deputies, syndicalists, opposition lawyers, and even the president of the “Colegio de Abogados” in the same shows with their mouths shot, without refuting the legal arguments presented there. All these people are the same that appear day by day on TV and newspapers, saying that what it had been done to her is “illegal”, but when there was a time to debate, they didn’t say a word. It makes you wonder why…

    In conclusion: Get all the pieces of info coming from anywhere, no matter what. Not only one part of the story. People deserve that. Then make your judgment.

    @Frombocas: I said previously that I didn’t vote for this government, neither I am with the CD or PRD or Panameñista or PP or whatever political party exists here in Panama. As you said to me, I just love my country, and I want to know the truth, not half truths.

    • @GreatJournalism: No matter what you say, I DID watch the press conference and even the otherwise pretty tame Panamanian journalists couldn’t hide their amusement with the ridiculous circus presented there, and La Prensa, the next day, correctly distilled 7 different versions of the story, various of which coming from the government.

      One strong indication on the official stories being BS is that the hospital where Palacios supposedly stayed has no records of his stay, even though he was so badly hurt that his stay was lengthy. Maybe memory loss is contagious and even includes papers?

      The fact that we don’t know the entire truth of what happened doesn’t mean we can’t recognize the inconsistencies in the official spin. As a matter of fact I think this is so obvious that only a fool will fall for it.

  23. When the ruling Political Party CD can hang large Political Banners across Calle 50 in four places with the support of the local Ministries and Government agencies!

    Who paid and install these banners, that do not have permits to hang them?

    Now they the CD Party are offering $5000.00 reward for the person(s) or group(s) who stated these so-called rumors about Palacios disappearance and now reappearance!

    Why did these government worker and Ministers leave work during regular business hours to confront the others demonstrating against Law 30 and the Governments actions in Bocas?

    This is more than just a little cover up!

    The CD and Martinelli are now covering their collective butts to smear and slandered the true take over of the resources and wealth of Panama for the elite and the Multi-Nationals!

    “Panama where the numbers never add up”

  24. Palacios possible abduction and subsequent miraculous reappearance is very positive. Yet, the continuous press coverage is a red herring comparable to the Wild Bill tabloid like coverage.

    Gentlemen, the anti-riot police shot to blind and disfigure the rioting natives. WTF!!!!! Who is responsible for giving such despicable orders! Why don’t we see the government apologists defending such actions here? How is the continuous press coverage on Palacios whereabouts going to restore the eyesight to those who lost their vision?

  25. Apart from insulting the intelligence of a 3 year old, the government offer of $5000 to find the “perps” in the Palacios case indicates the complete criminality of this government. Now they are offering money for false testimony that will probably result in some poor shmuck in jail. Preying on someone´s desire for easy money and providing a way to wreak vengence on someone´s enemy, they will set up a mock trial in which they have corrupted the judicial process completely. Imagine a government that commits a crime, bribes it´s own public to provide false testimony and then prosecutes a knowingly innocent person. It doesn´t get much worse than that.

  26. The $5000 offered is a stupid move of the CD. As Dr. Dias said, how did they hang the banners without a pemit?. The other stupid move was the useless confrontation with syndicalists in the “Defensoria del Pueblo”.

    And Okke, FYI a lawyer told me that Magaly Castillo shouldn’t gave a “poder” to a lawyer to testify before the prosecutor Calderon, ’cause she is not accused of anything. A witness should do a “declaración jurada” without giving a “poder” to a lawyer. She became a witness the day she publicly said that Palacio was arrested by the police. If Calderon accepted the “poder”, he would committed an illegal act. So your insinuation that the government made a “bizarre tactic of repression” to her, is wrong again.

    • @GreatJournalism: No it’s not wrong. Anyone is entitled to the assistance of a lawyer in legal proceedings.

  27. The sapo would then better take his $5K and move out of the country quickly. I dont think people in Changuinola are going to take much more of this nonsense.