International

Rómulo Roux, the presidential candidate who promises a Constituent Assembly to refound Panama

Rómulo Roux, leader and presidential candidate of the opposition Democratic Change (CD) party of Panama and who came second in the 2019 elections, is considered a politician who does not live off the system.

This gives it the power to carry out its main objective: a new Magna Carta that refounded Panama and frees it from corruption.

“I’m not a professional politician, I don’t live off the system, I don’t live on my donors, and that gives me the freedom to make the decisions that the country requires them to be made,” such as changing the Constitution through a constituent assembly,” the lawyer and doctor of law said in an interview with EFE.

Roux, standard-bearer of the traditional CD and Panameñista Party (PPa) and third in the most recent survey published by the newspaper La Prensa, tries again to reach the presidency of Panama with a series of basic columns, including economics, education and the reform of public institutions.

Winning, apart from “punctual” proposals such as creating 500,000 jobs and tripling, up to five million, the number of annual visitors to the country, he intends to leave the change of the 1972 Constitution as one of its “legacys”.

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This new legal framework is needed, among others, “to eliminate the number of deputies (71), lower it to no more than 51 deputies and that they cannot raise their own budget when they feel like it, that they cannot take the Executive hostage.”

“Yes (refound), give the country a structure and a new legal framework that eliminates a system that today is made to shield the thugs, to shield corruption, to shield impunity. That system has already collapsed,” said Roux, born in Panama in 1965.

He admitted, however, that cases of corruption such as Odebrecht’s have been of people within the traditional political parties “who have done things wrong.”

But between fleeing “as others have done, one can choose to reform the party, ensure that it operates as it has to operate and that it does things right.”

“Those who want the usual path, the path of politicking, clientelism, malantry, I don’t even want them here,” he remarked.

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Roux is fighting for the presidency for the period of 2024-2029 with former president Martín Torrijos (2004-2009) for the Popular Party (PP); the current vice president José Gabriel Carrizo for the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) and the Molirena; and Ricardo Lombana for the Movimiento Otro Camino (Moca) party.

His opponents are also former Minister José Raúl Mulino for the Realizing Goals (RM) collective and the Alianza Party (PA) instead of former President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) – politically disqualified after being convicted of money laundering – and the candidates for the free application Melitón Arrocha, Maribel Gordón and Zulay Rodríguez.

Closely defeated in the 2019 elections by Laurentino Cortizo, Roux recalls that he always said that he “had doubt whether the official result reflected the will of voters at the national level in number of votes in different popular election positions.”

Even so, he now considers that the electoral system at that time “was what it was, and we decided to move forward for five more years, fight and be this May 5 again, to win the presidency.”

In that way, whoever was head of Foreign Affairs and minister for Channel Affairs with Martinelli’s government (2009-2014) points out that nothing distracts him, not even those who talk about his ‘American nationality’, something he denies and assures is a “dirty” campaign that comes from the disabled former president and Mulino, who leads the most recent survey with 29%.

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“Why is it me who is attacked the most, if he says that they are flying in the polls? That they attack other candidates. Do they have an ass (fear)?” he said.

Roux, who claims to have his “own polls” and find out what happens while touring the country, affirms that he is not worried about his rivals either, but that it is important is that the Supreme Court of Justice “decide quickly” on the complaint of unconstitutionality against Mulino’s candidacy, “not to remove candidates, but to eliminate uncertainty.”

The lawsuit was filed on March 4 by a lawyer considering that, after the Electoral Tribunal disqualified Martinelli, Mulino’s candidacy is not valid because she was not subjected to primaries and also violates constitutional articles on the election of the president and the vice president of the country.

Among the issues that have marked the debate in the electoral campaign is that of the Cobre Panama mine, of the Canadian First Quantum Minerals (FQM) and disabled by a court ruling last November after massive protests against mining activity.

The issue has persecuted Roux for his relationship with one of the law firms involved in the signing of the first contract of the mining concession, but he responded without hesitation to EFE’s question about the fact that, in case of winning the presidency, things vary and the mine stays to continue operating.

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“No, the mine is leaving. The mine is leaving because there is already a ruling from the Court and the people spoke,” he said, but that it must be “closed in an orderly manner and that it does not cost the country anything. Always close it, taking care of the environment.”

International

Peruvian presidential candidate Napoleón Becerra dies in campaign road accident

Presidential candidate Napoleón Becerra, representing the Partido de los Trabajadores y Emprendedores (PTE) in Peru, died in a traffic accident while traveling to a campaign event, local authorities confirmed Sunday.

Becerra, who also served as president of the centrist political party, ranked among the lowest in opinion polls in a crowded field of more than 30 candidates competing in the presidential election scheduled for April 12.

Recent surveys place Rafael López Aliaga at the top of voter preferences.

The accident occurred near the town of Ayacucho, in southern Peru, when the vehicle carrying the candidate overturned for reasons that remain under investigation.

“The candidate Becerra has died,” Balvin Huamani, mayor of the district of Pilpichaca, told RPP radio.

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According to Huamani, he personally transported the 61-year-old candidate to a local health center, where doctors confirmed his death.

The Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (JNE) expressed condolences over Becerra’s passing and wished a speedy recovery to the three people who were traveling with him and were injured in the crash.

International

Noboa intensifies anti-cartel crackdown as violence persists in Ecuador

A close ally of Washington, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has pursued a hardline security strategy against cocaine cartels for more than two years, yet homicide, disappearance and extortion rates remain high across the country.

Between Sunday night and the morning of March 31, Ecuador’s armed forces will launch a “very strong offensive” with “advisory support” from the United States, Interior Minister John Reimberg announced Tuesday.

The government has kept details of the operation confidential and has not confirmed whether U.S. troops will be deployed on Ecuadorian soil, as has occurred at times during Noboa’s administration.

As part of the security measures, residents in the coastal provinces of Guayas, Los Ríos, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, and El Oro will be subject to a nightly curfew from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time for the next two weeks.

“We are in a war,” Reimberg said, urging citizens to remain indoors. “Do not take risks. Stay home and allow the security forces and our allies to do the work that must be done.”

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Although Ecuador does not produce cocaine, it has become a major departure point for drugs heading to the United States. Meanwhile, the violence associated with trafficking has increasingly affected the local population.

Bordering the world’s largest cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has gone from being considered a relatively peaceful country to recording one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America—52 killings per 100,000 inhabitants—according to the **Observatory of Organized Crime.

International

Peruvian presidential candidate proposes death penalty amid crime surge

Peru is facing an unprecedented surge in crime ahead of its presidential election scheduled for April 12, with violence fueled by extortion networks and a wave of contract killings linked to organized crime.

Police data show that 2,200 homicides tied to organized crime were recorded in 2025, while extortion complaints increased by 19%, underscoring the growing security crisis in the South American nation.

Amid this backdrop, presidential candidate Álvarez has proposed reinstating the death penalty if elected, arguing that extreme measures are needed to curb the violence.

To implement the proposal, Álvarez said Peru would withdraw from the American Convention on Human Rights—also known as the Pact of San José—which the country signed in 1978. The agreement prevents member states that have abolished capital punishment from reinstating it.

Currently, Peruvian law only allows the death penalty in cases of treason during wartime.

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“We have to leave the Pact of San José and apply the death penalty in Peru because those miserable criminals don’t deserve to live,” Álvarez told AFP during a campaign stop at a market in Callao, the port city neighboring Lima.

“An iron fist against those criminals,” he added, proposing to declare hitmen as military targets.

During the campaign event, Álvarez walked through stalls selling vegetables, groceries, and fish, greeting vendors while musicians played cumbia music nearby.

The 62-year-old candidate, who spent more than four decades working in television as a comedian, is a newcomer to politics and is running for president under the País para Todos party.

Polls place him fifth in voter preference with nearly 4% support in a fragmented race featuring 36 candidates.