Monday, May 12, 2020
I did everything in my power to keep my promise to the most loving, considerate and wonderful woman in the world (she reads my blog now). It was already 10:30 p.m. when I finally got the chance to start my workout, I decided that day one would be 45 minutes of brisk walking with some adrenaline-pumping music. “Hey honey, keep your phone handy just in case I get arrested, OK?”, I joked. We live in Las Cumbres and no one in their right mind would be out walking this late. It’s not dangerous, but man is it DARK out here. Here we’re brushing the vital edge of wildlife central. Here we don’t have fences to keep our dogs in, here we have fences to keep beasts out who may want to get at our dogs. So, in my feeble mind, I was going to be alone in the world. Dressed in the appropriate garb, which primarily entailed top-of-the-line, high-tech Nike apparel (me, schmoozing for sponsors), I stretched for a good 15 minutes and got to it. With some old school ZZ Top blaring through my earbuds, I started down a path I’ve walked many times before. No sooner did I start up the first incline, I saw the headlights. I knew the police patrol car as they usually come through after midnight. I took out my earbuds and they rolled down the window. “Going to work?”, he asked. I didn’t know them; these guys were newbies.
Darn it, very little chance to use my wit and charm to let me walk, but maybe I could get out of being arrested and cleaning the community streets the following day. “No sir, I’m stretching out my back. I have a degenerative disease that I’m trying to mitigate.”, I tried to smile, but I think my timing was off. “Well, you’ll have to head back home sir, unless you want to mitigate something with the night court judge.”, he responded firmly. What a great comeback. I already have a lot of respect for the men in blue, but his response was spot on. Although he crushed my spirit, I genuinely smiled, gave him the appropriate “Yes, sir!” and executed an immediate yet sloppy “about face”. That half-block return to the Mikkelson homestead sucked, but although Dad would always say “Rules were meant to be broken.”, he would also say, “Don’t do as I do, do as I say.” (Dad was always confusing.) No complaints though; I got off with just a verbal warning and they didn’t even escort me back home.
TOP NEWS and TIDBITS
WHAT DO PEOPLE AND COMPANIES STARTING WORK THIS WEDNESDAY HAVE TO DO TO GET THEIR SALVOCONDUCTOS?
The gradual lifting of quarantine begins with the reopening of shops such as mechanical workshops and spare parts in general, technical services such as plumbers, electricians, system maintenance, air conditioners, elevators, maintenance and cleaning of swimming pools; industrial fisheries and aquaculture and retail sales in their online sales or electronic commerce modalities, as part of the block of sectors that join the new normality in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As reported by the Minister of Commerce and Industries, Ramón Martínez, the people who are included in block one, will be able to start operations starting on May 13, 2020, but for this reopening plan, companies must prepare to start in this “new normal”.
Independent people, who provide these services and who are not part of large companies, but who have their own business or micro-company, can request their safe-conducts from today on the site https://validación.salvaconductos.mici.gob.pa/register to validate their salvoconductos. Martínez explained that in the case of people who are not within the formality of a company, who provide these services as natural persons, they must obtain an operation notice (aviso de operacion) and then obtain their salvoconductos, following the guidelines already established.
“The people who will start tomorrow must do the paperwork to make their safe-conduct, it is important to follow the general guidelines that the health authorities have already presented, because those are the rules by which all sectors must be governed in general and we will to gradually take it out because they are specific protocols for each sector,” said Minister of Commerce Ramón Martínez.
Brett’s Comments: MICI really has come a long way in getting the Salvoconducto system operating properly. In the first round of Salvoconductos, back in March, all you had to do was to add your information and you got a Salvoconducto. It was really just a good-faith system and people started abusing the system probably 5 hours in to the system being operational. That being the case, it’s no wonder MICI had to lock that one down and create something different or complimentary. The second system, the present system was very strict and there were problems with interpretations of what the government intended vs what company owners understood. In my case, when we originally opened our company, we thought the operations notice was for private security consultations and we also thought that this was one of the types of entities being authorized. After a week of consultation, we were finally able to get our company on-board and our select employees were able to obtain their salvoconducto. It was a very stressful beginning with an initially congested platform, misinterpretations, lack of communication and as always, bureaucracy. What can we expect now? All of the new companies coming online and needing to get their salvoconductos will probably have to go through a lot of the same.
My recommendation is to have patience. If you fall in to one of the categories being authorized now, get your Aviso de Operaciones in to the system immediately. If you find the MICI registration site congested or frozen, just wait until about 4AM and do it then. No, this time I’m NOT joking. This is what we had to do. This isn’t MICI’s fault, this is the fault of every business owner wanting to do it all at the same time. If you do not have an Aviso de Operaciones but you are a professional in one of the newly authorized categories and want to get working, you need to get an Aviso de Operaciones. If you need a lawyer to help you with this, I recommend Gerardo Simeon at SECRESIM@CABLEONDA.NET He’s a smart guy and up-to-speed on everything related to the Salvoconductos and Avisos de Operacion… …as well as labor law!
During the next couple of days, the system will falter during the day and people will complain, but the system does work and you will eventually get your salvoconducto if you’re tenacious enough!
CABINET COUNCIL HOLDS ON-SITE MEETING TO REVIEW PANDEMIC REPORT
The Cabinet Council was held in person, unlike the last meetings, which were held using teleconferencing tools or virtual meetings and with the presence of some ministers. The President of the Republic, Laurentino Cortizo, published a photo showing the meeting of ministers and with the following message:
“In Cabinet Council with the government team, reviewing the epidemiological report that the Minsa team gives me, to continue to make decisions responsibly and based on evidence.”
The publication shows the presence of the president and vice president, along with most of the ministers, but with the particularity of keeping distance and all wearing masks.
The room used is also not the usual one for Cabinet meetings, rather it was a larger room. This Cabinet Council takes place a day after the announcement of the beginning of the “new normal”, which will begin this Wednesday, May 13, with the opening of a first block of commercial activities, which comply with the guidelines of the Ministry of Health (Minsa) on COVID-19. On May 13, a first block of companies that includes retail e-commerce, mechanical workshops and spare parts, technical services such as plumbers, electricians, maintenance of air conditioners, elevators, pool maintenance, commercial fishing and industrial aquaculture and clinics, will be able to return to their economic activities.
THE PAN AMERICAN HEALTH ORGANIZATION DECLARES THEY’RE VERY CONCERNED ABOUT THE QUICK EXPANSION OF COVID-19 IN AMERICA
The Pan American Health Organization declared on Tuesday to be “very concerned” about the speed at which COVID-19 is spreading in the American continent, where in the last week 266,269 new cases have been recorded, thus reaching 1.74 million infections. “We are very concerned about how fast the pandemic is spreading. It took three months for our region to reach one million cases, but less than three weeks to almost double that number,” Dr. Carissa F. Etienne, director of this organization explained in a telematic press conference. Etienne explained that, until this Monday, 1.74 million cases and more than 104,000 deaths from the new coronavirus had been recorded in the Americas region, most of them in the United States. Last week, the continent registered a relative increase of 18% in infected (266,269 new infections) and 23% in deaths (19,543 new deceased). The director of PAHO warned that, due to this growth in mortality and transmission of the virus, in South America the health systems in large urban centers, such as Lima or Rio de Janeiro, “are rapidly becoming overwhelmed.” In line with this, she explained that these overload situations do not only have a great impact for cities, but also for neighboringcommunities; This can severely hit some indigenous peoples such as those in the Amazon region, who have less access to health systems.
Etienne was disappointed by the economic crisis that the pandemic will leave and announced that PAHO is maintaining a dialogue with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, and other financial organizations to coordinate the response. In addition, she assured that the institution she directs also collaborates with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean with the aim of “reconfiguring a new model in which existing health systems and universal health coverage are seen as the key to economic growth and social integration “.
https://www.tvn-2.com/mundo/OPS-preocupada-expansion-COVID-America_0_5577192295.html
DRIVE-THRU ENABLED IN ARRAIJÁN TO VACCINATE OLDER ADULTS, CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
The Local Unit of Primary Health Care (Ulaps) of Vista Alegre, Arraiján, enabled a Drive-Thru to vaccinate against influenza, people with disabilities, adults over 60 years and children under 5 years. The vaccination process will take place at 7:00 a.m. at 2:00 p.m. During the Drive-Thruservice, vehicles must follow the service line. A group of nurses will collect the data from the patients and then apply the vaccine. This, in order to offer an alternative for this population to be immunized against influenza, avoiding the crowding of people and the spread of COVID-19. According to Dr. Yaremis Olmedo, on the first day of the opening of the Drive-Thru, installed in the Ulaps parking lots, more than 25 vaccines were applied that cover 3 strains of influenza, A H1N1, H3N2 and type B.
HOUSING MINISTER URGES JUDGES OF PEACE AND POLICE TO APPLY DECREE AGAINST EVICTIONS
Given the eviction complaints that have been released in recent days, the Minister of Housing and Land Management (Miviot), Inés Samudio, urged judges Paz and members of the National Police to apply Executive Decree No. 145 2020, to prevent evictions and releases on leases. Samudio explained the scope of the norm that suspends the launch and eviction processes on all leases, “to protect those families who are being affected by the COVID-19 crisis and who, having lost their jobs, have not been able to pay.” The minister indicated that once the State of National Emergency is lifted, the tenant will have two additional months and both parties must reach a payment agreement in the following two years and that those who can pay must meet the rental fees. The lessee who does not fulfil their commitment will be sanctioned, the minister reiterated, adding that this coronavirus crisis has exposed a large number of leases that were not properly registered with the ministry. Executive Decree No. 145 suspends both the eviction and launch processes and freezes the leasing fees for up to months after the state of emergency is lifted and stipulates penalties for non-compliance.
https://www.tvn-2.com/nacionales/Ministra-Vivienda-policia-aplicar-desalojos_0_5577192282.html
WORKERS AND EMPLOYERS MAY VERIFY THE SUSPENSION OF CONTRACTS ONLINE
The Ministry of Labor and Labor Development (Mitradel), inhabited an online consultation system on its website for employers and workers to verify the process of suspension of labor contracts, due to the measure announced by the National Government through the Ministry Health, to resume certain economic activities that will operate after COVID-19. To carry out the procedure, they will have to enter https://www.mitradel.gob.pa to click on the query button for suspended contracts, if you are a worker you can validate the suspension with the ID or passport number, as a company you can access with the RUC number and automatically the system will indicate the confirmation that your request has been processed. In both cases, if the request does not appear, you must fill out a report with the information of the person or company to be identified. Please note that the process from the send date must go through verification and inclusion in the database. This tool will allow to keep a daily record of the commercial activities that are gradually being resumed, update the data of the workers who will no longer be suspended and have preserved their post-crisis jobs. A total of 170,562 workers have had their employment contracts suspended, which have been reported until May 10 with the Mitradel.
HOTEL SECTOR REPORTS LOSSES OF B / .40 MILLION PER MONTH DUE TO THE PANDEMIC
Armando Rodríguez, president of Apatel, said that 100,000 direct jobs in this sector have been affected.
Rodríguez said that the plan for the gradual reopening of the commercial sectors by blocks presented by the National Government, caused them concern since a date was not given for the reactivation of this sector. According to Rodríguez, it is necessary to coordinate with the union the reactivation date to plan how the hotels will be reopened.
“There has to be an order to know how we are going to open twenty thousand rooms in the city and ten thousand rooms in the interior. It cannot be opened abruptly knowing all the sanitary measures that must be applied,” he said.
The hotel sector is in block 4 of the reopening plan.
https://www.telemetro.com/nacionales/2020/05/12/sector-hotelero-reporta-perdidas-b/2852400.html
ON A WEEKLY BASIS, THE GOVERNMENT WILL REVIEW THE INFECTUOUS PERCENTAGE TO DETERMINE THE ADVANCE OF BUSINESS OPENINGS
The Minister of Commerce and Industries, Ramón Martínez, said that he will carry out a weekly review of the percentage of COVID-19 infections in Panama and other indexes, to announce the dates when the commercial sectors will be able to reactivate their activities.
For now, this Wednesday will restart retail sales (electronic commerce), mechanical workshops, technical services, industrial fishing and aquaculture. “On the topic of dates we have preferred not to give a date, but we are going to be doing weekly reviews,” he said. Martínez indicated that this reopening plan was agreed upon at a working table made up of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), trade unions, Health authorities and advisers. For its elaboration, he explained, the risk of transmission of the virus in the country was taken into consideration. He asked the citizens to follow the measures decreed to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, to maintain the effective reproduction number, and thus be able to continue advancing on the reopening roadmap.
METRO DE PANAMA WILL ALLOCATE $ 105 THOUSAND FOR CLEANING AND DISINFECTION OF TRAINS AND WAGONS
The Panama Metro will allocate $ 105,750 to deep cleaning work to disinfect the trains and wagons of lines 1 and 2, due to the high level of contagion of the coronavirus (Covid-19). According to the documents published by the Panama Metro, and which are signed by the general director, Héctor Ortega, the misting work to be carried out on the seats, floors, ceilings, air ducts, cabins and railings of line 1 will be the responsibility from the company Sicarelle Holdings, which offered $ 25 for each train. The hiring of the company occurs after a direct hiring process, protected by the state of emergency in which the country is. Metro de Panamá S.A. received five proposals and chose two; that of SicarelleHoldings and the offer of the company Hombres de Blanco. The works in charge of Sicarelle Holdings will be carried out between 8:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m., as the trains leave the daily route from the Albrook station to the San Isidro area. As the company Sicarelle Holdings did not have enough personnel to carry out the disinfection process on the two lines of the Metro, the state entity granted the works on line 2 to the company Men in White, which had also offered a price of $ 25 for each train and the 105 wagons used in the circuit that operates from the San Miguelito station to the Nuevo Tocumen area in East Panama. For line 1 works, the Metro will pay $ 58,500,000, while for line 2, the contract will be for $ 47,250,000. Before Covid-19, around 300 thousand people used the two lines of the Metro daily. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, movement has slowed and now only 12% of regular demand is handled. 36,000 passengers are currently moving and they expect to increase to 140,000 in the coming months. On weekends, when absolute quarantine is decreed, the railway system has stopped operatingaltogether. In order to guarantee physical distance, the Panama Metro indicated the seating and poles that should not be used, keeping approximately one meter of distance between each user, while for those who travel standing, they marked other signs, with images of footwear, with which The position in which passengers should be located during their trip will be oriented.
GANG WARS AGAIN
I usually try to avoid the Tabloid-style of reporting; you know, deaths, infidelities, aliens, etc. However, this is a little too big to not report on.
One of Panama’s Most Wanted, Elizalde Alberto Viruet Coindet, was murdered by a rival gang as he was arriving at one of his homes in a neighborhood close to the Rod Carew National Stadium; Rain Forest Village via Centenario. Reporters on scene also talk about another death as well as two women being injured during the gun battle. Viruet was wanted by Panamanian authorities after being processed and sentenced to 80 months in jail for international drug trafficking. He was also wanted for other crimes also related to drugs. Also, Viruet was supposed to be under house arrest for other crimes relating to the illegal possession of firearms. This first shootout took place yesterday morning, May 11. (Actually, unofficially, this is not the first shooting as another one took place Friday in Chame.) Word has it that the killers rented a house in the same neighborhood and had been patiently waiting the arrival of the subject for several days. Motive for this first shooting is supposedly due to a series of shootings that took place back a few months ago in the La Joya prison. In that other shooting, several gang shootings and murders took place in a matter of a few short days.
Then, later that day, May 11, 3 bodies were found in Chumical, Vacamonte, District of Arraijan. All three had been murdered execution-style. Shortly after, a 4th victim was also discovered in a nearby wooded area. Word on the street is that this was in retaliation for the murder earlier that day of Viruet. The murderers in this case, took off on foot through the mangroves and on to Playa Dorada. Helicopters were dispatched to search for the killers. Just last Friday, also in the mangroves by near Libano in Chame, three people were also murdered.
It’s important to point out that so far this year, there have been four triple homicides in Panama West alone and now this one too, a quadruple homicide.
Also Monday evening, three people waaaaaaay out in the boonies were murdered. The location is Tres Quebradas in the province of Los Santos. Two brothers 38 and 39 years as well as a younger woman of 19 years. The weapon used for the murder was found and identified as an AK-47. According to other sources, there was a fourth person injured as well. According to investigators on the case, these are the same guys who were initially tried in the “El Gallero” case last year and eventually all 15 people involved were absolved due to the DA running a crappy outfit and probably a lot of corrupt politicians involved. This wasn’t some backwoods drug case where some hillbillies were caught with a bag of weed. This was the case where 2.1 TONS of illegal narcotics were recovered as well as 18 brand new high dollar sports vehicles. But this isn’t confirmed yet. A fourth person was injured, a pregnant woman, who was also shot but supposedly pretended to be dead to save her life… …that seems very Hollywoody… Anyways, she claims that the subject drove up with high-caliber weapons and before shooting them said to one of the brothers, “Do you remember me!?” and then opened fire on the four of them.
And that brings us to today…
In the sector of Plaza Amador, El Chorrillo, when the subject was at the old Cable & Wireless store, a vehicle drove by and opened fire on him. The subject was identified as Edgardo Henry, 32 years old, who was impacted in the stomach, back and neck. At the time of this report, Henry was still alive. Close by, in an area called Barraza, Manuel Enrique Perez Garay, affectionately known as “Chulo Zurdo”, was shot repeatedly in the chest by several individuals who, without uttering a word, approached him and opened fire. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, but was declared dead on arrival.
While in the process of writing this little bit, two more shoot outs (at least) took place this evening. One in Rincon Solanoin La Chorrera where one victim died so far. The other was in Santa Librada, San Miguelito where early reports talk of 3 people injured.
I suppose the icing on the cake is a video I received tonight of another guy talking like a tough-guy. He starts out saying, “Hey in real life, Gordito, we’re behind you, we’re still breathing.” That’s a threat against “Gordito”, by the way. And goes on to say that for every one that died, their deaths will be paid for with the blood of others. He added that even those on the sidewalks, who are being protected by “guardias”, are also going to die. It seems he’s talking about the “national police” when he says “guardias”. But then again, these guys talk a lot of code and it could just mean, protection in general. He also mentions what I think is another gang, “LOS CEROS” “The Zeros”. I may be misinterpreting that last part.
Everyone shooting, everyone shot and all those who died, were involved either directly or semi-indirectly with drug trafficking. So, the bottom line kiddos, is as follows:
- Stay home, don’t go out unless direly necessary.
- Don’t sell drugs.
- Don’t make friends with drug traffickers.
The breakdown of deaths is between 12-15 depending on the outcome of the Santa Librada and Chorrera shootings tonight. That will get more coverage early in the morning. And, this isn’t over with yet, sadly enough.
STATUS UPDATE
PANAMA REGISTERS 8,783 TOTAL CASES AND 252 COVID-19 DEATHS
- 8,783 positive cases
- 167 new cases
- 252 deaths
- 2,135 home isolation (819 hospital hotels)
- 375 are hospitalized (295 in ward / 80 intensive care)
- 6,021 clinically recovered
According to the age group, patients between the ages of 20 and 59 continue to be the most affected in terms of infection, however, most deaths correspond to those over 60 years of age.
Since the first case of coronavirus was reported in the country, a total of 44,561 COVID-19 tests have been performed in Panama, of which 898 are new tests.
Coronavirus statistics from Day 1:
- Mon, March 9: 1 case
- Tues 10: 8 cases (+7)
- Wed 11: 14 cases (+6)
- Thu 12: 27 cases (+13)
- Fri 13: 36 cases (+9)
- Sat 14:43 cases (+7)
- Sun 15: 55 cases (+12)
- Mon 16: 69 cases (+14)
- Tues 17: 86 cases (+17)
- Wed 18: 109 cases (+23)
- Thu 19: 137 cases (+28)
- Fri 20: 200 cases (+63)
- Sat 21: 245 cases (+45)
- Sun 22: 313 cases (+68)
- Mon 23: 345 cases (+32)
- Tues 24: 443 cases (+98)
- Wed 25: 558 cases (+115)
- Thu 26: 674 cases (+116)
- Fri 27: 786 cases (+112)
- Sat 28: 901 cases (+115)
- Sun 29: 989 cases (+88)
- Mon 30: 1075 cases (+86)
- Tues 31: 1181 cases (+106)
- Wed April 1:1317 cases (+136)
- Thu 2: 1475 cases (+158)
- Fri 3: 1673 cases (+198)
- Sat 4: 1801 cases (+128)
- Sun 5: 1988 cases (+187)
- Mon 6: 2100 cases (+112)
- Tues 7: 2249 cases (+149)
- Wed 8: 2528 cases (+279)
- Thu 9: 2752 cases (+224)
- Fri 10: 2974 cases (+222)
- Sat 11: 3234 cases (+260)
- Sun 12: 3400 cases (+166)
- Mon 13: 3472 cases (+72)
- Tues 14: 3574 cases (+102)
- Wed 15: 3751 cases (+177)
- Thu 16: 4016 cases (+265)
- Fri 17: 4210 cases (+194)
- Sat 18: 4273 cases (+63)
- Sun 19: 4467 cases (+194)
- Mon 20: 4658 cases (+191)
- Tues 21: 4820 cases (+162)
- Wed 22: 4992 cases (+171)
- Thu 23: 5166 cases (+174)
- Fri 24: 5338 cases (+172)
- Sat 25: 5538 cases (+200)
- Sun 26: 5779 cases (+241)
- Mon 27: 6021 cases (+242)
- Tues 28: 6200 cases (+179)
- Wed 29: 6378 cases (+178)
- Thu, 30: 6532 cases (+154)
- Fri, May 1: 6720 cases (+188)
- Sat, May 2: 7090 cases (+370)
- Sun, May 3: 7197 cases (+107)
- Mon, May 4: 7387 cases (+190)
- Tues, May 5: 7523 cases (+136)
- Weds, May 6: 7731 cases (+208)
- Thu, May 7: 7868 cases (+137)
- Fri, May 8: 8070 cases (+202)
- Sat, May 9: 8282 cases (+212)
- Sun, May 10: 8448 cases (+166)
- Mon, May 11: 8616 cases (+168)
- Tue, May 12: 8783 cases (+167)
ENDNOTES
Hopefully, this “End Note” helps to shake off the stress from the rest of this report. As some of you may know, recently Brett Jr took over my Lamp-Making hobby gently informing me that I “was doing it wrong” and I think he even whispered, “Move over, old man!”. These lamps here are the end product of some hard work, patience and some good times with the boys. These were made from a Zacapa XO rum bottle, Terrazas Malbec wine bottle and a really cool Pillitteri Estates Winery 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Ice Wine bottle. And the really good news is that they’re all for sale. Well, except for one which was already sold. Thanks Jordan! If anyone is interested, let me know. We have at least 10 of these that will be finished before the weekend is over.
And as always…
Stay safe… Stay healthy… And by all means STAY HOME!!…
Great report
Thanks for sharing all this info! Really helpful especially for those of us who struggle with the translations of the decrees.
Great reading, Thanks