Presidential hopefuls ignore the environment

PANAMA. It seems the environment is not an important issue in the government plans of presidential hopefuls, as reflected in both Balbina Herrera’s and Ricardo Martinelli’s no-show at the annual dinner of the National Association for the Conservation of Nature (ANCON). Both were invited to speak, yet sent on their behalf vice-presidential nominees Juan Carlos Navarro (PRD) and Juan Carlos Varela (Panameñista). And neither spoke about environmental policies, as Navarro spoke about decentralization and Varela focused on criticizing the current government.

For Ancon’s director, Alida Spadafora, the candidates no-show signals that politicians are “missing a lot of knowledge” on the subject matter.