What could constitute a new attack against the freedom of expression was denounced by TV presenters and leaders of the Guild of Journalists, after new statements made public on Monday night and yesterday by President Juan Carlos Varela.
The President accused some TV news presenters of creating panic in the country.
Questioned by journalists, after completing an act on a youth forum, he said that there are journalists who instead of simply presenting the news, they also focus on discussing the country's security policy.
Álvaro Alvarado, TV news presenter who has on several occasions denounced attacks to the freedom of expression, has questioned President Varela´s statements on his Twitter account.
"It will soon come the time that from the Presidency they will want to dictate what goes on air, what is released in the media and what doesn´t. we are going in the right direction.” said Alvarado on Twitter.
Varela also lashed out against the news broadcast, arguing that, in a monitoring carried out by the Security Council, they have noticed that the same particular piece of news is repeated up to 20 times in a span of two hours.
To be specific, he referred to the case of two young footballers who died in Monte Oscuro.
the President Said that it was 6:00 p.m. and while being at the Security Council and tuned into a TV channel, the same information was repeated eight times, but as many as 12 news advances had been made.
According to Varela, what this causes is that the people that come to visit the country will get a bad perception about the image of Panama.
However, the President acknowledged that some acts of violence have occurred, in which on occasions the victims are people that are not linked to gangs.
"I am not ignoring the problems of insecurity in the country, if I were I would be acting in an irresponsible way", said Varela.
He went on to assert that the problem lies in perception, since the statistics show that the number of murders has decreased.
He justifies…
The President denied again that there has been repression in the sector of Gualaquita, in Bocas del Toro, due to protests against the hydroelectric Barro Blanco project and that there have been seriously injured aborigines.
He dismissed the statements made by doctor Manuel Prado, who gave testimonies of the health predicament facing the aborigines who were repressed with pellets and pepper gas.
President Varela said that Prado is giving statements with nuances political, because in his time he was nominated as candidate to Deputy in this region of the country, but did not win the elections.
