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Rapid tests of covid-19 in vulnerable areas of Panama 2:52
(CNN Spanish) - In Panama, the slogan of “Stay at home” is in the eye of the storm because two members of President Laurentino Cortizo's cabinet were aware of carrying out partisan political activity, which ended in a fine, with the which executive decrees were ignored by the pandemic.
The questioning by the population arises because on Thursday night some people found out that deputies from the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), who is in power, and even the Minister of Labor Doris were meeting in a restaurant in Panama City. Shoe.
When they learned about the activity, civilians protested with a touch of pots outside the restaurant and remained there until after midnight. In statements to the media, they demanded the sanction of the officials for violating the rules of social distancing, as has been done with civilians, in cases known and reported by the police, such as a wedding, cockfights, pool party , among other.
Immediately, the Ministry of Health opened an investigation and sanctioned with a fine of US $ 50,000 the Democratic Revolutionary Party and with another US $ 50,000 the Jimmy's Restaurant and Grill where the activity took place.
The PRD explained through a statement that it was a meeting to define the candidates for the election of the new board of directors of the Assembly, to be chosen on July 1 and that all measures of physical distancing were kept. For its part, the family that owns the restaurant, which opened despite the fact that by executive decree they must be closed to the public, circulated a statement on social networks, confirmed by CNN, in which they apologized to the population.
The popular unrest was exacerbated because the PRD was sanctioned, but not everyone present at the meeting and because a document of that group circulated this weekend in which the call was made on the same date and time of the controversial meeting , but elsewhere. The resolution had the signatures of the Ministers of Health and Labor, who are members of the PRD board of directors.
Through her press office, Health Minister Rosario Turner told CNN that “she signed as a member of the party's National Executive Committee, not as Minister of Health, and that she authorized the meeting, but not that it be held at the restaurant. and barbecue ”.
For her part, the Minister of Labor, Doris Zapata, who was in the activity, in a text sent to CNN by her press office, said that she attended a controlled meeting and by democratic exercise to choose the payroll that would represent the party the July 1 at the Assembly. "We will take the corrective measures and move on," said Zapata.
Before the commotion, the president and member of the PRD, Laurentino Cortizo, is silent. CNN asked for a reaction from the president in this regard, but the Presidency of the Republic was informed that it would not comment.
