Panama Reaffirms Its Withdrawal From Central American Parliament

(insidecostarica.com) Panama City -  Panamanian Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Varela reaffirmed Friday his country's decision to withdraw from the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN) and asked other member countries to respect it.

"Panama's decision is a taken decision, we began the process in a formal and respectful way of the diplomatic practice," Varela told the press.

"We will not accept that any deputy from the PARLACEN, by any means, question the sovereign decision by the Panamanian President, who was elected by the Panamanian people," Varela said.

Panama has submitted a letter of intention to quit PARLACEN Wednesday to the organization's secretary-general as well as informing foreign ministers in El Salvador and Guatemala.

Varela said that Panama's withdrawal from the PARLACEN was a campaign promised by Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli, who won the presidential election on May 3 with more than 60 percent of the votes.

He alleged that some cases in the PARLACEN had crossed the limits of political decency, which did not benefit Panama.

"PARLACEN has been surrounded by issues of immunity and exonerations on vehicles imports, on people who even have been related to drug trafficking," Varela said.

"Unfortunately, PARLACEN has been involved in scandals which do not share the transparency promise that President Martinelli made to his country."

Varela once said PARLACEN largely was a consultative body and had contributed little to resolving the region's problems. He said about 95 percent of Panama's residents supported the country's resignation.

However, Varela said that the withdrawal would not be an obstacle to strengthening the Central American integration in the commercial and economic fields.

"We have been clear with the foreign ministers of the countries we visited. Panama was a strong advocate of Central American integration and it will be part of the (region's) dialogue with European Union to reach a commercial agreement," he said.

PARLACEN, founded in 1991, is based in Guatemala City and has 20 deputies from six member states. Each member must pay 1.7 million U.S. dollars annually to keep the group running.

**********************

Original source: http://insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2009/august/23/ca02.htm 
Date retrieved: August 24, 2009