by the El Reportero’s wire services
The festivities for the 194th anniversary of the First Cry of Independence in Panama started today with a 21-gun salute and the traditional exclamation of freedom, marking the events that took place in the central village of Los Santos, this day in 1821.
Afterwards, more developments in several other parts of the country like Parita, Las Tablas, Penonomé, Ocú, Natá de los Caballeros, San Francisco de Veraguas y Alanje, in Chiriquí, led to Panama’s Independence from the Spanish crown on Nov. 28, 1821.
The constant abuse by the authorities, the serious economic situation, and especially the fragility of the colonial government, among other elements, led to the independence quest led by Segundo Villarreal, historians say.
History states that when Liberator Simon Bolivar learned about Panama’s first emancipating act, he called Villa de los Santos a heroic city, thus the name by which the city is known today: ‘La Heroica Villa de Los Santos’.
Elected officials dissatisfied with possible budget in Guatemala
Elected officials from Guatemala will stop participating from today in the legislative debate on the budget for 2016 because they are dissatisfied with the increase of some costs provisions for unnecessary spending.
According to what was stated in a letter by the chosen President Jimmy Morales, the determination of his team to leave that analysis in Congress responds to disagreements with certain unjustified increases in certain areas and the neglect towards their proposals.
Morales, who must assume the leadership of the Government on Jan. 14, 2016, thanked the space given to his party -National Convergence Front (FCN-Nación, in Spanish) – to submit a spending plan in line with the deep analysis made to each budgetary program.
The proposal submitted by the FCN-Nación shows a significant reduction in the budget ceiling of the Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing, for it is betting on public works through an eventual Law on Alliances for the Development of Economic Infrastructure.
The legal body being planned, of which the elected president declined to give details, will rule activities in that order and would allow to redirect the reduced budget of that ministry to the Judiciary and the Public Ministry.
The strengthening of both entities, to fight corruption, was part of the political program presented by the actor and evangelical producer looking to attract the citizen vote in the general election this year.
More than 6,000 Missing Children in Mexico
Executive Director of the Network for Children’’s Rights Juan Martin Perez affirmed that more than 6,000 children and teenagers were missing in Mexico.
Out of the 26,000 missing people in the country, 6,676 are children under the age of 18, he said.
Seven out of 10 missing youths aged 15 to 17 years are women, which is an increasing trend, he stated.
Martin Perez underlined that such figures have confirmed several complaints made by civilian and human rights organizations concerning presence and actions by criminal groups devoted to female slavery.
His statements came during the presentation of the report 2015 Kids Count in Mexico, that took place before UN and government members and municipal employees.
We may add poverty, sexual abuse, early marriage, school dropout, femicide, and disappearance to the list of things that affect minors in the country.
