Chinchilla names new PANI president

October 10^th, 2012 – PANI, Costa Rica’s child protection agency, has a new president, following the resignation of Marielos Hernandez, the former executive president, on Friday.

Iris Arias will be taking her place, beginning on October 15^th.  She was named yesterday morning.

Arias has a degree in social work and has worked at PANI for 16 years.

Last week, a petition from over 100 PANI employees was sent to the Executive Branch, asking for a replacement for Marielos Hernandez, claiming problems in her administration of the agency.

PANI has been rocked by a number of scandals recently, including child pornography being found on staff computers, and allegations of sexual and physical abuse of children by PANI staff, amongst others.