Goal presidential candidate Jose Raul Mulino addresses supporters at a campaign rally in Panama City. AP
Panama's front-runner for president is a last-minute successor who experts say could return the Central American nation to a time of prosperity that experts say will be difficult to restore.
Following former President Ricardo Martinelli's money laundering conviction and punishment, Panama's election authorities declare him ineligible and propel Jose Raúl Mulino, a maritime lawyer and former security minister, to the top presidential candidate list. Ta.
Although Mr. Mulino lacks Mr. Martinelli's charm and public appeal, he benefits from the supermarket mogul's vocal support and has a comfortable lead among eight candidates heading into the May 5 election. is maintained.
Former President Martín Torrijos and two other candidates who ran in past elections, Ricardo Lombana and Romulo Lu, make up the remaining candidates. In a recent survey, these three companies are tied for second place after Mulino. Mulino did not attend the three presidential debates.
More than 500,000 people visited Panama's Darien Rainforest last year. Mulino operated on a platform of creating jobs and stopping immigration through the region. Voters fed up with the country's political elite and longing for the good old days of a strong economy responded well to this message.
However, compared to the Martinelli government from 2009 to 2014, Panama's economy has not expanded and many predict it will contract next year.
The Supreme Court's ruling that a law granting 20-year concessions to large copper mines was illegal contributed to the economic slowdown. The decision comes after weeks of street protests by broad segments of Panamanian society, shaken by concerns about access to water amid an alarming drought and nationalist fervor over a deal with a Canadian mining company. It was conducted.
The prolonged drought has also reduced traffic on the Panama Canal, the country's key economic engine.
There are constitutional objections to Mulino's candidacy, as he was not selected in a party primary and does not have a running mate. The Supreme Court has not said when it will rule on the challenge.
Mr. Mulino's growing candidacy unfolded as Mr. Martinelli's own legal saga unfolded.
Mr Martinelli, already banned by the US government, was convicted of money laundering in Panama last July, and election authorities disqualified him from the election in March this year, replacing Mr Mulino as head of the Achievement Party. pushed him to the position of
By then, Martinelli was already locked up in the Nicaraguan embassy, where he fled as Panamanian authorities planned to detain him to complete a 10-year sentence.
From behind the walls of the embassy, Martinelli appealed for Mulino on social media platforms, enraging the Panamanian government for refusing Nicaragua's request to leave the country.
“Most Panamanians are angry and resentful of the political class in this country,” said Michael Shifter, adjunct professor of Latin American studies at Georgetown University. “Mr. Mulino benefits from Mr. Martinelli's image and the perception that the country became better during the former president's term.”
Mulino hasn't forgotten that fact either. He is rarely seen wearing a blue Martinelli Mulino 2024 cap and has pledged to support Mr Martinelli if elected.
At a recent campaign rally outside Panama City, Mulino emphasized his message of bringing a “government of hope and jobs” to Panama. Because we will work, work, work and restore and strengthen trust and confidence in our institutions. our democracy. ”
“Mr. Mulino is the man who will save the country from the scourge of crime and the depression of lack of employment,” said Adriano Cueto Valencia, a 61-year-old worker who was walking with Mr. Mulino in a working-class neighborhood. . capital.
Fidedinha Perez, a 73-year-old retiree who lives with her son, agreed. “This guy is serious. People think he's arrogant, but I know he can lower food prices and help the poor. That's why Martinelli made him his candidate. Noda.”
Mulino says that while he was security minister in Martinelli's government, he succeeded in driving out the now-defunct Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces guerrilla group from Panamanian territory along the Darien jungle, which is shared with Colombia. But experts say this was the period when the illegal trade in drugs and weapons picked up, and the number of migrants crossing the border began to increase.
Mr. Mulino nevertheless promised to stop immigration, which reached a historic high of more than 500,000 people last year, without providing details.
“We are going to close Darien and repatriate all these people with respect for human rights,” Mulino said at a recent election event. Panamanian authorities, with support from the U.S. government, made similar claims more than a year before the number of railroad crossings doubled again.
Mulino was also heavily criticized in 2010, when he was security minister, for violently suppressing protests by indigenous banana plantation workers in two provinces. Two people were killed and more than 100 injured.
“There are too many unknowns for Mr. Mulino,” said Rodrigo Noriega, political analyst and columnist for La Prensa newspaper. “Anti-corruption issues, (suppression of) social protests…and Ricardo Martinelli's soft response to corruption issues.”
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