Sources close to the President told La Estrella de Panamá newspaper that one of the officials who could be replaced is the current Vice President of the Republic and Minister of the Presidency, José Gabriel Carrizo.
Carrizo’s likely departure would be part of the strategy to focus on the possibility of gaining control of the PRD, which on May 15 marked the XI. Ordinary Congress to decide on the composition of the National Executive Committee (CEN).
Last Wednesday, in the dispute over the CEN positions, they published a consensus list in which Carrizo is aiming for the chairmanship of the PRD, while the current head of state is looking for the secretary-general of the political organization.
Outside of the ministry for the presidency, Carrizo would cement his possible aspirations as the PRD’s presidential candidate for the 2024 general election, according to the newspaper.
Other names of ministers to be replaced by their positions in the coming days are the head of trade and industry, Ramón Martínez; and from the government, Janaina Tewaney; and even the chancellor herself, Erika Mouynes.
The diplomat has just toured various Asian countries including China, Indonesia and Singapore; and this week she will receive US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, whom she has announced will be co-hosting a regional meeting on migration.
If these adjustments to the machinery of government come about, La Estrella claims … it would be Cortizo’s second change of cabinet this year.
On February 10, the President appointed Giselle González Minister of Culture; Marta Elida Gordón as the new Deputy Foreign Minister; and Diana Laguna, Associate Environmental Director
For the analyst José Stoute, the persistent rumors about possible ministerial changes correspond solely to the need to prepare the government in advance for the upcoming election campaign.
He specified that the patronage actions will be intensified, as well as the increase in the state payroll, as happened before the election of the new National Executive Committee of the PRD.
Stoute estimated that changes in some portfolios would not be made for managerial efficiency reasons, but to turn government institutions into patronage tools of choice, he asserted.
Political scientist Richard Morales was also of the opinion that the cabinet changes at this point were strictly in response to internal PRD elections and the various disputes taking place around these elections. He also argued that the ministries named for changes are not involved in the most sensitive or urgent areas of the executive branch.
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