Who is the elected president of Panama?

On March 5, Mulino officially became the presidential candidate of the Realizing Goals (RM) party after the Electoral Court (TE) disqualified Martinelli as a candidate for the Executive after being sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for money laundering. capitals.

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The TE resolved that in On the ballot, in the box for the Realizing Goals parties and the Alianza party, Mulino was to appear to replace Martinelli, as he was their candidate for vice president..

A man of few words and a firm character, the standard-bearer of the asylum seeker Martinelli shows himself with the “ability” and “will” so that with his Government the economic boom and “chen chen” or “money in the pockets” for Panamanians will return. .

Despite the multitude of cases of corruption that surround him and the culture of waste attributed to Martinelli, During his mandate, Panama consolidated itself as the nation with the highest economic growth in the region, in addition to building the first Metro in Central America.

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As the “flagship” work, the construction of the so-called “Madness train to go at gunpoint (fast)” from Panama City to David, capital of the western province of Chiriquí, is now proposed to unite the entire country and cause a ” high impact” in tourism and the logistics sector.

He graduated in Law and Political Science (1982) from the Universidad Santa María La Antigua (USMA) and in 1983 obtained a master’s degree in Maritime Law from the American Tulane University (New Orleans).

Since 1988 he practiced law as a founding partner of the Fábrega, Molino y Mulino law firm, from which he left in 2015.

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He played an important role as one of the leaders of the opposition Civilist Crusade that accelerated the fall of General Manuel Antonio Noriega, who ruled de facto between 1983 and 1989, when he was overthrown and captured by US troops who invaded Panama on December 20, that same year.

In 1990 he joined the Government of Guillermo Endara (1989-1994) as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, which was installed after the invasion of the United States. becoming head of this portfolio after succeeding Julio Linares, who died days before from heart disease.

In April 1994 he was the first Panamanian foreign minister to visit Russia, after 90 years of relations. Then, between 1994 and 1996 he was a substitute magistrate of the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court.

Mulino has been married to Maricel Cohen since 1985, is the father of four children and has the same number of grandchildren.
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In July 2009, Martinelli appointed him as Minister of Government (Interior) and Justice, but in April 2010 he became Minister of Public Security, having an eventful management due to the repression in July 2010 of protests by banana workers in the region. of Bocas del Toro (Caribbean), with a balance of two dead, dozens of injured and more than a hundred detained.

At the beginning of the Administration of Juan Carlos Varela (2014-2019), he was accused of corruption in relation to the Italian company Finmeccanica for allegedly receiving commissions for the purchase of 19 radars, a case for which he was preventively imprisoned for seven months until April. of 2016. This case was annulled in August 2017.
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In 2018, Mulino lost in the primaries of Cambio Democrático (CD), Martinelli’s former party, against Rómulo Roux, who also aspired to the Presidency in this Sunday’s elections for that group.

But the truth is that Mulino today is under the shadow of Martinelli. Mulino has publicly said that if he came to power he would “help” the former president “as appropriate according to the law.”after the current Government denied him safe passage to travel to Nicaragua.
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​His relationship with Martinelli is such that this Sunday, after voting, Mulino dressed him at the Nicaraguan embassy. Mulino and the former governor gave each other a big hug and they can be heard saying “Brother!”, “We are going to win!”, according to a video released by the campaign team of the Realizing Goals party (RM, founded by Martinelli).

President Laurentino Cortizo leaves through the back door due to allegations of corruption in his administration and the social unrest at the end of 2023detonated by a copper mine whose operation his government negotiated.

“With the Panama Papers and Odebrecht trials this year, it is highlighted that corruption at the government level continues to be a problem in Panama. The new administration has an important responsibility to demonstrate that it wants to apply forceful reforms to limit corruption in the government” , says Sebastián Fernández de Soto, an analyst at Control Risks in Panama, in conversation with this newspaper.

Mulino will also deal with an economy whose growth will fall from 7.3% in 2023 to 2.5% in 2024according to estimates by the International Monetary Fund.

Also with the international litigation with Canada over the closure of the mine, the deterioration of the investment climate – vital for the neighboring country – and a public debt of 50,000 million dollars. And as if that were not enough, it must take on the crisis that the country’s economic engine is experiencing, the Panama Canal – through which 6% of world maritime trade passes – which had to reduce ship transit due to the drought generated by the climate crisis and the El Niño phenomenon.
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But perhaps the biggest challenge will be addressing the migration crisis. The Panamanian territory is jungle and the most inhospitable area is the Darién jungle, bordering Colombia. The Pan-American route could never be completed there and now it serves as a passage for migrants from South America going to the United States: more than half a million in 2023.

The migrants, mostly Venezuelans, Haitians, Ecuadorians, Colombians and Chinese, face the danger of criminal gangs, wild animals and raging rivers.

Political scientist Cristina Guevara believes that “the next government has to prioritize” addressing this migration crisis, as well as strengthening its presence in the area and promoting regional solutions.

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Mulino promised with great impetus during the campaign: “We are going to close the Darién!” But analysts agree that addressing this crisis will require careful treatment.

Fernández de Soto points out that “Panama has gained importance as a distribution port for drug trafficking, and this has generated an increase in insecurity. The crisis in Darién has also pushed Panamanian authorities to the limit in relation to managing the flow of migrants. coming from South America. The management of insecurity and the crisis are presented as important challenges for the new administration.