A program that helped tens of thousands of foreigners get permission to live and work in Panama entered its final days on Friday with the opening of the last of the immigration fairs that have roused nationalist sentiment in the small Central American nation.
Long lines of people filed into a gymnasium in the capital where officials were processing applications under a program known as the “melting pot of the races.” The fair is to run through today and the government of new Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela says there are to be no more.
The program, launched in 2010, temporarily eases requirements for those seeking to live and work for several years in a nation of 3.5 million people with one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
It eliminates normal, time-consuming immigration requirements and asks applicants only to show that they have been in the nation for a year and have no trouble with the law. They get a two year or 10-year residence and work permit
Some US and Canadian citizens have applied, but most of the 48,000 visas granted in earlier immigration fairs went to Colombians, Nicaraguans, Dominicans and Venezuelans, including hotel and restaurant workers and some street vendors.
Backers say that the measure boosts the economy and improves security by ensuring foreigners have clean records, adding that few of those granted permits have been later arrested for crimes.
The fairs have roused increasing opposition, often based on fears of competition for jobs, which has spawned professional and youth groups united under slogans such as “Panama for Panamanians” and “United for Panama.”
The nation’s main business groups have said attacks on the program border on xenophobia, an allegation most critics reject.
“We have never been opposed to foreigners, nor are we xenophobic. That is a lie,” said Omayra Avendano, a member of the Soy Panama coalition that has fought the program.
She said Panamanians have long lived in harmony with other nationalities, “but what has come with the fair from the start is total disorder. They are not taking account of public opinion, of the feelings of Panamanians.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of