A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck off Panama’s Pacific coast on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of fatalities or damage. The quake was relatively shallow, at a depth of 12 kilometers (seven miles), the US agency said. Panama’s civil protection agency Sinaproc said the quake had a magnitude of 6.7, hit 72 km from the coast and was felt in much of the Central American isthmus nation, although […]
Tag: Panama
Argentina ‘madness’ as 1.5-mn vie for 63,000 match tickets
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — More than 1.5 million Argentina fans applied for 63,000 tickets for the team’s first appearance, in a friendly against Panama, since lifting the football World Cup in Qatar. Tickets for the match in Buenos Aires on Thursday next week, sold out in two hours, according to the Deportick website, as local media said the virtual ticket line drew 1.5 million people. The Monumental Stadium has a capacity of 83,000, but […]
Panama says Iran warships might be allowed through canal
PANAMA CITY, Panama (AFP) — Iranian naval ships will be allowed to sail through the Panama Canal as long as they abide by international norms, Panamanian authorities said Tuesday following reports that Teheran was sending vessels to the strategic waterway. An Iranian military presence in the Canal would anger the United States, which built the channel linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans at the beginning of the 20th century, and Washington has warned that it […]
Panama charges two former presidents over corruption scandal
PANAMA CITY, Panama (AFP) — Panamanian prosecutors have charged former presidents Ricardo Martinelli and Juan Carlos Varela with laundering money from construction giant Odebrecht, after the company admitted paying bribes in the country. The two men, who collectively led Panama between 2009 and 2019, were not present at a court hearing on Friday. Prosecutors accused the pair of using front companies and foreign bank accounts to receive funds from Odebrecht between 2008 and 2014. […]
President of Panama announces blood cancer diagnosis
PANAMA CITY, Panama (AFP) — The President of Panama Laurentino Cortizo said on Monday that he has blood cancer, although the 69-year-old said he feels well and is in “good spirits.” In late May, Cortizo’s doctors detected “a decrease in hemoglobin and white blood cell count” during routine testing, the president said in a televised statement. Specialists recommended that a bone marrow biopsy be performed, and samples were sent to a US laboratory, and […]
Ten children rescued in Panama sex trafficking operation
PANAMA CITY, Panama (AFP) – Panamanian authorities announced Thursday that as part of an operation to disrupt a sex trafficking ring, 10 children were rescued and three people in Panama and Costa Rica were arrested. “The victims in this case range between the ages of four and 16 and the people involved are close relatives” of the minors, said Emeldo Marquez, a senior Panamanian prosecutor. He explained that the relatives “facilitated” the shipment of the […]
Panama seized record amount of drugs in 2021: president
PANAMA CITY, Panama (AFP) – Panama seized a record haul of 128 tons of drugs in 2021, President Laurentino Cortizo said on Sunday. The figure represented a 43 percent increase on the previous record of 90 tons from 2019. “In 2021, as a result of 565 operations against organized crime and drug trafficking, 128.7 tons of drugs were seized,” Cortizo told the National Assembly parliament. In 2020, despite lockdown measures imposed to stop the spread […]
Planet vs people as Panama’s mangroves are turned into coal
by Moises AVILA Agence France-Presse Elieser Rodriguez emerges blackened from the thick smoke of burning pyres slowly transforming the limbs of mangroves into charcoal — a livelihood much maligned by environmental and climate campaigners in Panama. He says he has no other choice for a living. “This is the daily survival of my family, of my children, of my wife,” Rodriguez told AFP in El Espave, a town about 80 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of Panama […]
Panama temporarily closes land, sea, and river borders with Colombia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjNBkdnIM2A (Eagle News) — In Central America, Panama has closed the door to travelers trying to enter the country from Colombia. The Panama national government, through a statement released by its foreign ministry, said it had to “temporarily suspend the entry into the national territory by land, sea and river routes of any person coming from the border with the Republic of Colombia, as of May 20, 2021.” Panama only has a total […]
Panama bars entry of travelers from India due to Covid-19 surge
https://youtu.be/F0d-KXh0_Jc (Eagle News) — Beginning May 3, Panama will restrict the entry of travelers from India due to the surge of cases of Covid-19 in the Asian country. The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in India is devastating the second most populous country in the world, with 1.35 billion inhabitants and adding more than 300,000 new infections every day. The Minister of Health, Luis Francisco Sucre, reported that the entry restrictions measures for […]
Panama hospitals on verge of collapse as virus cases surge
by Juan José Rodríguez Agence France Presse PANAMA CITY, Panama (AFP) — Hospitals in Panama are on the brink of collapse as coronavirus cases spike in the Central American country worst hit by the pandemic, where doctors are already exhausted. With a population of four million, Panama has gone from 200 cases a day to 1,100 over the last few weeks. “Our daily number of infected patients has been increasing in a sustained way […]
Boxing legend Duran leaves hospital after COVID-19 scare
PANAMA CITY, Panama (AFP) — Panamanian Roberto “Hands of Stone” Duran was released from hospital Thursday after being treated for coronavirus, the six-time boxing world champion announced via social media. “Today, with the blessing of God, I returned home after battling the COVID-19 virus. It was a World Championship fight,” Duran wrote on his Instagram account. The message included a video showing him leaving the hospital in a wheelchair and wearing a face mask, as […]
