Welcome to the Panama Weekly News Roundup! Here’s the latest.
Panama Starts 2018 with Heavy Blow to Narcotrafficking.
In just four operations in the first 15 days of 2018, the Panamanian Public Forces intercepted 1,102 kilograms of cocaine. Units from the Panamanian Air and Naval Service (SENAN, in Spanish) conducted operations on the Pacific coast of Panama.
As church bells still rang in the new year, SENAN interceptor boats patrolled Panama’s Pacific region. Through a maritime traffic control operation, naval units interdicted a speedboat along the southern shores of the central province of Veraguas.
In that first interdiction of 2018, SENAN seized 474 kilograms of cocaine. In the same operation, agents captured the boat’s crew: two Colombian citizens.
According to a statement from the Office of the Attorney General of Panama, “The seizure was made southwest of Coiba. The suspects were aboard an unnamed, 25-foot go-fast boat equipped with 40- and 75-horsepower Yamaha engines.” Both detainees were turned over to Panamanian law enforcement and received an eight-year prison sentence.
Source: Dialogo
Tax evasion ‘is a global issue not a Panama issue,’ says finance minister.
In the wake of a high-profile tax evasion scandal, Panama’s economy and finance minister said Thursday that the country was working with the international community to combat financial crime and tax evasion.
Dulcidio De La Guardia, Panama’s minister of economy and finance, said the problem of tax evasion was not limited to his country.
Speaking to CNBC at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, he said: “It’s a global issue, it’s not a Panama issue… and we’re trying to improve the tax and financial system in Panama and I think we’ve been successful so far.
Source: CNBC
Live From the Panama Canal: Tips for a Partial Transit Cruise.
Cruising the Panama Canal is highly popular amongst tourists, and this week, we got a great first-hand look at the experience from Cruise Critic.
We’re on Holland America Line’s Zuiderdam this week, taking a partial transit cruise of the Panama Canal. What’s a partial transit, you ask? It’s a cruise where the ship only goes through one set of locks, the Gatun Locks, on the Atlantic Ocean side of the Panama Canal. Once the ship reaches Gatun Lake, an artificial lake just south of Colon, passengers disembark on tenders for various excursions.
The benefits of a partial transit are that your cruise will begin and end from the same port (Fort Lauderdale, in the case of Zuiderdam), which can save on travel costs. It’s also a shorter cruise than a full transit, which can take two weeks or longer to sail between Los Angeles and Florida; our itinerary is 10 nights. Finally, as we discovered, you can still get the full experience of sailing through the canal if you take the right excursion.
Source: Cruise Critic
Top 4 Panama Beaches: how to enjoy both coasts, at any budget
It’s dry season in Panama, or what locals know as “Summer”, and that means it’s beach time! In theory, you can enjoy Panama’s beaches year-round, but the dry season is especially popular as it’s almost wall-to-wall sun, and many Panamanians are on summer breaks from school and work.
With so many beaches on two coasts (Pacific and Caribbean) to choose from, it’s impossible to see them all, even if you live here. This is why we’ve come up with a quick list of our top 5 favorites. Here they are, in no specific order:
Source: International Relocation Firm Blog
