Panama
Reaffirms Its Withdrawal From
Central American Parliament
Panama City - Panamanian
Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Varela
reaffirmed Friday his country's decision to
withdraw from the Central American
Parliament (PARLACEN) and asked other member
countries to respect it.
"Panama's decision is a taken decision, we
began the process in a formal and respectful
way of the diplomatic practice," Varela told
the press.
"We will not accept that any deputy from the
PARLACEN, by any means, question the
sovereign decision by the Panamanian
President, who was elected by the Panamanian
people," Varela said.
Panama has submitted a letter of intention
to quit PARLACEN Wednesday to the
organization's secretary-general as well as
informing foreign ministers in El Salvador
and Guatemala.
Varela said that Panama's withdrawal from
the PARLACEN was a campaign promised by
Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli, who
won the presidential election on May 3 with
more than 60 percent of the votes.
He alleged that some cases in the PARLACEN
had crossed the limits of political decency,
which did not benefit Panama.
"PARLACEN has been surrounded by issues of
immunity and exonerations on vehicles
imports, on people who even have been
related to drug trafficking," Varela said.
"Unfortunately, PARLACEN has been involved
in scandals which do not share the
transparency promise that President
Martinelli made to his country."
Varela once said PARLACEN largely was a
consultative body and had contributed little
to resolving the region's problems. He said
about 95 percent of Panama's residents
supported the country's resignation.
However, Varela said that the withdrawal
would not be an obstacle to strengthening
the Central American integration in the
commercial and economic fields.
"We have been clear with the foreign
ministers of the countries we visited.
Panama was a strong advocate of Central
American integration and it will be part of
the (region's) dialogue with European Union
to reach a commercial agreement," he said.
PARLACEN, founded in 1991, is based in
Guatemala City and has 20 deputies from six
member states. Each member must pay 1.7
million U.S. dollars annually to keep the
group running. |
