Renewed calls for resignations of Security Minister and Police Chief

(PanamaNewsRoom)Pressure is on again from nearly a score of civil groups and opposition politicians for the resignations of Minister of Security Jose Raul Mulino and Police Director Gustavo Pérez.

Their cries are likely to go unheeded, as the man who calls the shots, President Ricardo Martinelli took off Monday for a world economic conference in Davos, Switzerland.

The outcry follows the January 9 incident at the juvenile detention center in Tocumen in which five youths died from burns suffered from a fire started by police, who looked on while burning prisoners screamed for help.

Mulino has said he will not step down because he had "nothing to do with the fire."

The opposition party Partido Popular (PP) and the Asamblea Ciudadana, (Citizens’ Assembly) which represents 18 organizations, and opposition political parties have united in calling for the resignations

The two men also faced calls to step down after confrontations between police and protesters in Bocas del Toro in 2009 which led to the deaths of four protesters and the injuring of hundreds from police buckshot.

In a statement issued Monday, January 24, the Assembly said: "These officials have sent the wrong message to police, which has resulted in this chain of abuses. Not only should the perpetrators of these crimes be punished, but those who have altered the objective of the police force by their speeches."