Lombana, the anti-system who seeks to preside over Panama with his fight against corruption

Ricardo Lombana, perceived as the anti-system candidate against the traditional parties, seeks to preside Panama driven by his fight against corruption, with which he hopes to return millionaire resources to the State to cover the needs of Panamanians, while promoting the security plan of the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukcele.

Lombana (1973), in the latest survey released this Wednesday by the local newspaper La Prensa, is in fourth place among the eight candidates for the elections on May 5, with a 10.4% of voting intention, almost equal with the third candidate, Rómulo Roux, with a 10.5%who are advanced by former president Martín Torrijos (11.6%)and José Raúl Mulino (29.3%)substitute for the disqualified former president Ricardo Martinelli.

But with a margin of error from the survey 2.83%the newspaper La Prensa warns that there is a “technical tie” between second and fourth place, to which is added a 23.2% of undecided or who would not initially vote for any of the candidates.

Lombana’s team, optimistic, assures that young people, who do not usually participate in these surveys and who promoted his candidacy in 2019 when he went from being an almost unknown independent politician to occupying third place at the head of the Other Path Movement (later made official as party), will take him to the presidency.

“The Other Path Movement begins as an anti-corruption citizen movement, understanding that corruption is one of the main problems that strips the Panamanian State of million-dollar resources to address the basic needs of the population”Lombana explains to EFE in an interview.

Thus, adds this professional lawyer with experience in the world of journalism and diplomacy, he hopes “that a strong anti-corruption public policy could recover important funds that do not exist today or that are in the pockets of some people and not at the service of the people.” .

To achieve this, Lombana proposes first to hold a Constituent Assembly preceded by a public consultation, in which they will ask the population if they are in favor or not with the changes they propose, many of them related to corruption.

“But the main (measure) is the example, I got rid of my electoral criminal jurisdiction because I have nothing to hide or hide. Second, the example of not having agreed with anyone,” it states.

Bukele’s example

Within this anti-system profile, it distorts hearing Lombana raise the flag of Bukele, who ignored the Constitution of his country to be re-elected president last February, or who as a consequence of his call “war against gangs”which has reduced violence in El Salvador to historic lows, skyrocketing its popularity, there have been thousands of arbitrary arrests.

“When I quote Bukele,” he warns, “I am not thinking about re-election or the Constitution, I am thinking about a president who attended to the basic needs of a population forgotten for 40 years. That is unobjectionable.”

He has also named it, he says, “because in addition to addressing the forgotten basic needs of a population, he confronted the political and economic establishment of his country and put at bay those who had always seen his country as a monopoly board”, something that he himself is “facing” ”.

“And thirdly, for its security plan, which to a large extent, perhaps not all, we are going to copy. What are we going to copy it into? “That we are not going to agree with criminals,” notes Lombana, who details that those gang members or politicians and businessmen “in jackets and ties” who have “proven crimes” will end up in jail.

The migration crisis in Darién

Regarding the migratory crisis through the dangerous Darién jungle, the natural border between Panama and Colombia where migrants are victims of attacks by bandits and wild animals, Lombana maintains a reconciliatory stance, far from the xenophobic discourse of some candidates, who ask his “closing”.

“The position of the other candidates (…) not only seems xenophobic to me, but it is unreal, migration, since humanity has existed, has not been stopped by walls or walls. “A candidate who talks about closing the border is lying,” Lombana points out, after 2023 in which more than 520,000 migrants crossed the Darién.

Thus, Lombana’s plan will focus above all on coordination with the intelligence services ofand “other strategic partners”, both from countries receiving migrants, as well as countries of origin and transit, to have “much more information” with which to combat the organized crime that controls the migratory movement in Darién, in addition to identifying the “victims from the vulnerability that migrating implies.”

“Intelligence to combat precisely this organized crime and allow safe migration, especially of the most vulnerable,” highlights the candidate, who also hopes that Panama “plays its role in the international community.” so that democracies are “strengthened and economic and social inequalities are corrected” in the countries of origin, forcing their population to migrate.

LGTBI community and cancer

For the LGTBI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersexual) community, Lombana used to be seen as one of its main candidates, but the politician is firm in opposing some of the demands of this sector, such as equal marriage or civil union.

“I have been clear on this issue, because they have misrepresented me a lot (…) I am not in favor of equal marriage and there was a ruling by the Supreme Court that conclusively determined that this issue is not legal, nor is it constitutional. in the Republic of Panama. So, for me the case is closed,” judgment.

So Panamanians will have to look for “a legal figure”, that he does not know what it is nor is he going to propose it because it is not on his agenda, he warns, “that serves a sector of the population that feels discriminated against”

Another controversial point is that of his illness, after he recently announced that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, a situation to which Panamanian society is no stranger, with the current president, Laurentino Cortizo, who has seen his capabilities greatly reduced by the disease you suffer from.

But Lombana clarifies that, “Thank God”was “blessed with an early detection of prostate cancer”, which after “evaluations it was determined that it was the earliest possible stage, the least aggressive possible and totally encapsulated”, without requiring treatment.

“So there is Lombana for a while and given the prostate cancer statistics, there is no concern”he concluded.

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