Jose Raul Mulino, a stand-in candidate for popular ex-President Ricardo Martinelli, wins Panama's presidential elections with over a third of the votes cast in the country. The new leader faces challenges such as government corruption, a severe drought affecting the Panama Canal, and US-bound migrants passing through the country's jungles. Mulino, running on the Achieving Goals and Alliance parties' ticket, acknowledged Martinelli and expressed the weight of leading the nation. Over 77 percent of eligible voters participated in the election for a new president, parliament, and local governments.
Jose Raul Mulino, a maritime lawyer and former security minister, has become the top presidential candidate after the disqualification of former President Ricardo Martinelli due to a money laundering conviction. Mulino aims to bring Panama back to a prosperous era, facing challenges to recreate past economic boom times. General elections in Panama are scheduled for May 5, 2024, with supporters rallying behind Mulino's party, Achieving Goals, and receiving endorsement from Martinelli.
Panamanians are set to choose their next president from eight candidates in a general election. The leading contender, Jose Raul Mulino, has ties to a former president convicted of corruption. Campaign focuses on economic issues, corruption, and restoring the country's reputation. No single party expected to win full control of the legislature. Polls open for 8 hours, with no requirement for a run-off. Winner becomes head of state and prime minister on July 1.
In Panama, six out of the eight presidential candidates discussed their plans to create jobs and address the country's water crisis in their final debate before the May 5th election. Former President Ricardo Martinelli's absence due to a money laundering conviction adds uncertainty to the election. Panama Canal's reduced ship transits highlight the water availability issue. The Supreme Court awaits a ruling on allowing Jose Raul Mulino to run without a vice presidential candidate. The election is described as highly complex and unprecedented by experts.
Presidential candidate Jose Raul Mulino from the Achieving Goals party holds press conferences and campaign rallies in Panama City ahead of the general elections scheduled for May 5, 2024. Former President Ricardo Martinelli sends a video message to Mulino's supporters during a campaign rally's closing event. Supporters, including a dog with a cutout of Mulino's face, attend the campaign events in Panama City.
José Raúl Mulino Quintero (born 13 June 1959) is a Panamanian lawyer, diplomat and politician, running for president in the 2024 Panamanian election, as a substitute to former president Ricardo Martinelli.He served as Minister of Government and Justice from 2009 to 2010 and Minister of Public Security from 2010 to 2014, both roles in the government of former president Martinelli. He served as Deputy Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs during the government of former president Guillermo Endara. From 1994 to 1995 he was a member of the National Council of Foreign Relations and Substitute Magistrate of the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice. Mulino was Martinelli's vice-presidential candidate in the 2024 elections, however Martinelli was disqualified from running. As a result, Martinelli endorsed Mulino and Realizing Goals nominated the latter.
Panama's Electoral Tribunal has annulled the candidacy of former President Ricardo Martinelli for the upcoming presidential election due to his 10-year prison sentence for money laundering, which was upheld last year. Martinelli, who served as president from 2009 to 2014, was found guilty of using stolen public money to buy a media conglomerate. His running mate, Jose Raul Mulino, has been authorized to continue as the presidential candidate. Martinelli denies wrongdoing and claims political persecution, facing further trials over alleged bribery payments from Odebrecht. He is the first former Panamanian president convicted of a crime.
General elections are scheduled to be held in Panama on 5 May 2024. Due to constitutional term limits, incumbent president Laurentino Cortizo is ineligible for a second consecutive term.Front-runner Ricardo Martinelli was convicted on money laundering charges in July 2023, and the Supreme Court's rejection of his appeal on 2 February 2024 rendered him ineligible to be president. Jose Mulino, Martinelli's choice for vice president, will be the party's candidate for President.
Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Berrocal (born March 11, 1952) is a Panamanian politician and businessman who was the 36th president of Panama from 2009 to 2014.Ricardo Martinelli was sentenced to ten years in prison in 2024 for embezzlement of public funds and money laundering. He was accused of using public money to buy several Panamanian media outlets in 2010, when he was president. He was implicated in several other corruption cases during his presidency (Odebrecht, New Business, Financial Pacific, Blue Apple, among others), and is facing several trials.
Realizing Goals (RM; Spanish: Realizando Metas) is a political party in Panama. It was recognized by the Electoral Tribunal of Panama on March 24, 2021. The party is led by the former president of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli. As of February 2023, the party had 234,634 members.
Jose Raul Mulino, Panama's presidential frontrunner, pledges to close the dangerous Darien Gap border crossing, a treacherous jungle route used by migrants heading to the US from countries like Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, Africa, and Asia. Critics warn that closing the 60km wide and 160km long Darien Gap, controlled by criminal groups and lacking state presence, is unfeasible and would push migrants to even more perilous paths, enriching organized crime. Despite Mulino's promise to respect migrants' rights, experts deem the closure virtually impossible and foresee a continued rise in migrants attempting the crossing due to visa restrictions in nearby countries.
Panama ( PAN-ə-mah, pan-ə-MAH; Spanish: Panamá IPA: [panaˈma] ), officially the Republic of Panama (Spanish: República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country in Latin America, spanning the southern tip of Central America into the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the south. Its capital and largest city is Panama City, whose metropolitan area is home to nearly half the country's over 4 million inhabitants.Before the arrival of Spanish colonists in the 16th century, Panama was inhabited by a number of different indigenous tribes. It broke away from Spain in 1821 and joined the Republic of Gran Colombia, a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela. After Gran Colombia dissolved in 1831, Panama and Nueva Granada eventually became the Republic of Colombia. With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the construction of the Panama Canal to be completed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. The 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties agreed to transfer the canal from the United States to Panama on December 31, 1999. The surrounding territory was first returned in 1979.Revenue from canal tolls continues to represent a significant portion of Panama's GDP, although commerce, banking, and tourism are major and growing sectors. It is regarded as having a high-income economy. In 2019 Panama ranked 57th in the world in terms of the Human Development Index. In 2018, Panama was ranked the seventh-most competitive economy in Latin America, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index. Panama was ranked 84th in the Global Innovation Index in 2023.Covering around 40 percent of its land area, Panama's jungles are home to an abundance of tropical plants and animals – some of them found nowhere else on earth. Panama is a founding member of the United Nations and other international organizations such as OAS, LAIA, G77, WHO, and NAM.
The idea of the Panama Canal dates back to 1513, when Vasco Núñez de Balboa first crossed the Isthmus of Panama. This narrow land bridge between North and South America was a fine location to dig a water passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The earliest European colonists recognized this, and several proposals for the construction of a canal were made.By the late nineteenth century, technological advances and commercial pressure allowed construction to begin in earnest. Noted canal engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps led the initial attempt by France to build a sea-level canal. Beset by cost overruns due to the severe underestimation of the difficulties in excavating the rugged terrain, heavy personnel losses to tropical diseases, and political corruption in France surrounding the financing of the massive project, the canal was only partly completed.Interest in a U.S.-led canal effort picked up as soon as France abandoned the project. Initially, the Panama site was politically unfavorable in the U.S. for a variety of reasons, including the taint of the failed French effort and the unfriendly attitude of the Colombian government (at the time, the owner of the land) towards the U.S. continuing the project. The U.S. first sought to construct a canal through Nicaragua instead.French engineer and financier Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla played a key role in changing American attitudes. Bunau-Varilla had a large stake in the failed French canal company and stood to profit on his investment only if the Panama Canal was completed. His extensive lobbying of American lawmakers, coupled with his support of a nascent independence movement among the Panamanian people, led to a revolution in Panama and to the negotiation of the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty, thus simultaneously securing independence for Panama and an opportunity for the U.S. to lead a renewed effort to construct the canal. Colombia's response to the Panamanian independence movement was tempered by an American military presence; this is often cited as a classic example of the era of gunboat diplomacy. The leaders of the new government in breakaway Panama felt they had no choice but to accept the canal treaty. Had the U.S. withdrawn its warships, the Colombian army would have returned to Panama and executed the members of the new government. "The notion that Roosevelt would abandon Panama at this point, that he would leave the junta to the vengeance of Colombia, that he would now suddenly turn around and treat with Bogota, was not simply without foundation, but ridiculous to anyone the least familiar with the man or the prevailing temper in Washington. Nothing of the kind was ever even remotely contemplated at the White House or the State Department." The Americans' success hinged on two factors. First was converting the original French sea-level plan (which required extremely large excavations) to a more realistic lock-controlled canal. The second was controlling the diseases which had decimated workers and management alike under the original French attempt. The Americans' chief engineer John Frank Stevens (the second Chief Engineer of the American-led project after John Finlay Wallace resigned out of frustration with the bureaucracy in 1905) built much of the infrastructure necessary for later construction; slow progress on the canal itself led to his replacement by George Washington Goethals. Goethals oversaw the bulk of the excavation of the canal, including appointing Major David du Bose Gaillard to oversee the most daunting project, the Culebra Cut through the roughest terrain on the route. Almost as important as the engineering advances were the healthcare advances made during the construction, led by William C. Gorgas, an expert in controlling tropical diseases such as yellow fever and malaria. Gorgas was one of the first to recognize the role of mosquitoes in the spread of these diseases and, by focusing on controlling the mosquitoes, greatly improved worker conditions.On 7 January 1914, the French crane boat Alexandre La Valley became the first to traverse the entire length of the canal, and on 1 April 1914 the construction was officially completed with the hand-over of the project from the construction company to the Panama Canal Zone government. The outbreak of World War I caused the cancellation of any official "grand opening" celebration, but the canal officially opened to commercial traffic on 15 August 1914 with the transit of the SS Ancon.During World War II, the canal proved vital to American military strategy, allowing ships to transfer easily between the Atlantic and Pacific. Politically, the canal remained a territory of the United States until 1977, when the Torrijos–Carter Treaties began the process of transferring territorial control of the Panama Canal Zone to Panama, a process which was finally completed on 31 December 1999.The Panama Canal continues to be a viable commercial venture and a vital link in world shipping, and is periodically upgraded. A Panama Canal expansion project started construction in 2007 and began commercial operation on 26 June 2016. The new locks allow the transit of larger Post-Panamax and New Panamax ships, which have greater cargo capacity than the original locks could accommodate.
The Panama Canal expansion project (Spanish: ampliación del Canal de Panamá), also called the Third Set of Locks Project, doubled the capacity of the Panama Canal by adding a new traffic lane, enabling more ships to transit the waterway, and increasing the width and depth of the lanes and locks, allowing larger ships to pass. The new ships, called New Panamax, are about one and a half times the previous Panamax size and can carry over twice as much cargo. The expanded canal began commercial operation on 26 June 2016.The project has:Built two new sets of locks, one each on the Atlantic and Pacific sides, and excavated new channels to the new locksWidened and deepened existing channelsRaised the maximum operating water level of Gatun LakeThen-Panamanian President Martín Torrijos formally proposed the project on 24 April 2006, saying it would transform Panama into a First World country. A national referendum approved the proposal by a 76.8 percent majority on 22 October the same year, and the Cabinet and National Assembly followed suit. The project formally began in 2007.It was initially announced that the Canal expansion would be completed by August 2014 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal, but various setbacks, including strikes and disputes with the construction consortium over cost overruns, pushed the completion date back several times. Following additional difficulties including seepage from the new locks, the expansion was opened on 26 June 2016. The expansion doubled the Canal’s capacity. On March 2, 2018, the Panama Canal Authority announced that 3,000 New Panamax ships had crossed the canal expansion during its first 20 months of operation.
The conservative wave (Portuguese: onda conservadora; Spanish: ola conservadora), or blue tide (Portuguese: maré azul; Spanish: marea azul), was a right-wing political phenomenon that occurred in the mid-2010s to the early 2020s in Latin America as a direct reaction to the pink tide.After a decade of left-wing governments, they suffered their first major electoral losses. In Argentina, Mauricio Macri (liberal-conservative, center-right) succeeded Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (Peronist) in 2015. In Brazil, the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, a socialist, resulted in her departure and the rise of Vice President Michel Temer to power in 2016, and later in 2018 to that of far-right congressman Jair Bolsonaro, who became President of Brazil. The researcher on Latin America Mariana Llanos, however, considers it incorrect to "lump Macri, Pinera and Bolsonaro together." In Peru, the conservative economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski succeeded Ollanta Humala, a socialist and left-wing nationalist who is considered to have shifted towards neoliberal policies and the political centre during his presidency. In Chile, the conservative Sebastián Piñera succeeded Michelle Bachelet, a social democrat, in 2018 in the same transition that occurred in 2010. In Bolivia, the conservative Jeanine Áñez succeeded Evo Morales amid the 2019 Bolivian political crisis. In Ecuador, the centre-right conservative banker Guillermo Lasso succeeded the deeply unpopular Lenín Moreno, a former leftist who shifted rightward and distanced himself from his predecessor, Rafael Correa; in doing so, Lasso became the first right-wing President of Ecuador in 14 years.In the late 2010s and early 2020s, the conservative wave began to decline following left-wing victories, starting with the 2018 Mexican general election and the 2020 Bolivian general election, and later the 2021 Peruvian general election, 2021 Chilean presidential election, 2021 Honduran general election, the 2022 Colombian presidential election, which resulted in the first left-wing president in the country's history, and the 2022 Brazilian general election, in which former leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who had his political rights restored, defeated Bolsonaro. However, the right-wing was able to rebound with some victories in late 2023 and early 2024 such as right-wing libertarian Javier Milei winning the 2023 Argentine presidential election, defeating Peronist Sergio Massa as well as centre-right banana tycoon Daniel Noboa defeating leftist Luisa González in Ecuador and also right-wing politician José Raúl Mulino defeating the incumbent center-left vice president José Gabriel Carrizo in the 2024 Panamanian general election.
Panamanians (Spanish: Panameños) are people identified with Panama, a country in Central America (which is the central section of the American continent) and with residential, legal, historical, or cultural connections with North America. For most Panamanians, several or all of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their Panamanian identity. Panama is a multilingual and multicultural society, home to people of many different ethnicities and religions. Therefore, many Panamanians do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, but with citizenship and allegiance to Panama. The overwhelming majority of Panamanians are the product of varying degrees of admixture between European ethnic groups (predominantly Spaniards) with native Amerindians (who are indigenous to Panama's modern territory) and Black Africans. The culture held in common by most Panamanians is referred to as mainstream Panamanian culture, a culture largely derived from the traditions of the Indigenous people and the early Spanish settlers, along with other Europeans arriving later such as Italians, with west African culture as another important component.
The economy of Panama is based mainly on the tourism and services sector, which accounts for nearly 80% of its GDP and accounts for most of its foreign income. Services include banking, commerce, insurance, container ports, and flagship registry, medical and health and tourism. Historically, the Panama Canal (and the nearby Colón Free Trade Zone) was the key source of Panama's income, but its importance has been displaced by the services sector. The country's industry includes the manufacturing of aircraft spare parts, cement, drinks, adhesives, and textiles. Additionally, exports from Panama include bananas, shrimp, sugar, coffee, and clothing. Panama's economy is fully dollarized, with the US dollar being legal tender in the country. Panama was the first foreign country to adopt the U.S. dollar as its legal currency (1903) after its secession from Colombia (with U.S. help) temporarily deprived it of a local currency. Panama is a high income economy with a history of low inflation.
The Panama Canal (Spanish: Canal de Panamá) is an artificial 82-kilometre (51-mile) waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, cutting across the Isthmus of Panama, and is a conduit for maritime trade. Locks at each end lift ships up to Gatun Lake, an artificial fresh water lake 26 meters (85 ft) above sea level, created by damming up the Chagres River and Lake Alajuela to reduce the amount of excavation work required for the canal. Locks then lower the ships at the other end. An average of 200,000,000 L (52,000,000 US gal) of fresh water is used in a single passing of a ship. The canal is threatened by low water levels during droughts.The Panama Canal shortcut greatly reduces the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, enabling them to avoid the lengthy, hazardous route around the southernmost tip of South America via the Drake Passage or Strait of Magellan. It is one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken.Colombia, France, and later the United States controlled the territory surrounding the canal during construction. France began work on the canal in 1881, but stopped because of lack of investors' confidence due to engineering problems and a high worker mortality rate. The US took over the project in 1904 and opened the canal in 1914. The US continued to control the canal and surrounding Panama Canal Zone until the Torrijos–Carter Treaties provided for its handover to Panama in 1977. After a period of joint American–Panamanian control, the Panamanian government took control in 1999. It is now managed and operated by the Panamanian government-owned Panama Canal Authority.The original locks are 33.5 meters (110 ft) wide and allow the passage of Panamax ships. A third, wider lane of locks was constructed between September 2007 and May 2016. The expanded waterway began commercial operation on June 26, 2016. The new locks allow transit of larger, Neopanamax ships.Annual traffic has risen from about 1,000 ships in 1914, when the canal opened, to 14,702 vessels in 2008, for a total of 333.7 million Panama Canal/Universal Measurement System (PC/UMS) tons. By 2012, more than 815,000 vessels had passed through the canal. In 2017, it took ships an average of 11.38 hours to pass between the canal's two outer locks. The American Society of Civil Engineers has ranked the Panama Canal one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.
The Panama Canal Authority (Spanish: Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (ACP)) is the agency of the government of Panama responsible for the operation and management of the Panama Canal. The ACP took over the administration of the canal from the Panama Canal Commission, the joint US–Panama agency that managed the canal, on December 31, 1999, when the canal was handed over from the United States to Panama as per the Torrijos–Carter Treaties. It is headquartered in Balboa, a district of Panama City.
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