Panama's Lombana Vows Prison for Corruption

Lawyer Ricardo Lombana, center-right opponent and candidate for  Panamanian presidential elections, closed his campaign before more than 1,000 supporters asking for the vote to put the corrupt in prison.

Lombana, a 50-year-old former consul and lawyer, came third in the 2019 elections as an independent candidate.

In these elections he is running for the Other Path Movement (center-right), where he has recruited former high-ranking officials and independents, especially young people and opponents of mining.

"Panama is a looted country. Money is enough when it is not stolen. We are going to put them in prison, we are going to end their privileges and privileges, we are going to recover the people's money," said Lombana in the central Plaza 5 de Mayo, in Panama City.

"We will be firm, yes, but with those who have stolen the country," he added.

The Supreme Court of Panama began to analyze the legality of the presidential candidacy of the right-wing opponent José Raúl Mulino, substitute for the exiled former president Ricardo Martinelli and favorite to win the elections, José Raúl Mulino.

Mulino leads the polls with between 25% and 30% of voting intention, double that of his immediate followers: the former social democratic president Martín Torrijos (2004-2009), Lombana and the center-right lawyer Rómulo Roux.

The situation with Mulino has created strong uncertainty in the final stretch of the elections.

Of the eight candidates, Lombana is the one with the most focused speech on combating corruption and clientelism, rooted in this Central American country.

One of his proposals is to call a referendum for a new Constitution that reforms the powers of the State, limits the use of public funds, eliminates the privileges and privileges of high officials and transforms the justice system.