Laurentino Cortizo took office on July 1, 2019 with a speech in which phrases such as 'lost decade', 'there will be no untouchables', 'transparency and efficiency', and with a list of priorities for the first six months were highlighted.
A review of current government's actions, however, draws the conclusion that several of those promises remained on paper.
In the list of fundamental topics, he included changes to the Constitution, reforms to the public procurement law, austerity in spending and the fight against corruption, with the premise that there would be no 'untouchables'.
Although the Presidency of the Republic presented the bill to reform the Magna Carta before the National Assembly, the initiative did not prosper because everything was left in the hands of the deputies, who adapted the initiative to their interests and caused a resounding citizen rejection.
Days of protests in front of the legislative palace, which ended with mass arrests, forced Cortizo to withdraw the project. Later, a national dialogue was announced with the United Nations Development Program as facilitator, but until the last days of February, when the Covid-19 pandemic had not yet reached the country, there was no news about it.
The constitutional reforms failed. They were President Cortizo's main promise, but he let them sink in the Assembly. They had to be concrete and specific reforms, said the political analyst Rubén Murgas in the Infoanálisis program of Omega Stereo.
Public contracts
Although Law 22 of 2006 on public contracts was modified, specialists on the subject believe that the norm fell short to guarantee transparency and clear rules of the game, as the president promised in his first speech to the nation. The debate focused on the ability of contracted companies for corruption to hire. In the end, it was agreed that they could not make deals with the State for three years.
Austerity?
Nor have there been any concrete results of the 'austerity with efficiency' program, which, according to Cortizo's speech, would allow doing less with more. Spending on the state payroll grew. Until last March 31, 233,218 officials, including permanent and temporary, worked in the state apparatus, with a monthly expense of $358.4 million, a figure that represents an increase of 5% compared to $341.4 million in March 2019.
Only in the parade of a thousand skirts, held on January 11 in Las Tablas, (Los Santos), the government spent at least $342 thousand on floats, banquets, typical ensembles, flowers and even the rental of luxury skirts with makeup artists included.
In the Assembly the waste has also been maintained. Form 172 (government payments for professional services) went from $813 thousand in 2019 to just over $5 million in March 2020.
The Executive has also not presented bills to combat corruption, as Cortizo promised.
The inner circle
Although the president assured that there would be no untouchables ... 'not even if they are ministers or deputies' ..., he maintains in his positions two of the ministers most questioned for alleged anomalies in the handling of funds from the pandemic: his vice president, José Gabriel Carrizo, who serves as minister of the Presidency; and Rafael Sabonge, Minister of Public Works. Both officials have been targeted by citizens over recruitment scandals amid the pandemic.
From the Ministry of the Presidency, which Carrizo directs, the purchase of ventilators with up to 900% of premium prices was approved. The purchase was canceled when the price details became public. Sabonge was in charge of building the modular hospital for coronavirus patients, a $6.9 million project (without medical equipment) that has been questioned due to poor transparency and alleged contracting anomalies. The Comptroller has not yet endorsed the contract between the Ministry of Public Works and the SmartBrix Central America company, which was awarded the contract.
On June 24, Cortizo announced cabinet changes in the portfolios of Health, Social Development and Housing and Land Management, but Carrizo and Sabonge still sit at their posts.
Maribel Jaén, from the Justice and Peace Commission, believes that the President failed to meet the issue of transparency. Jaén hopes that in the speech that the president will give tomorrow, he will prioritize the needs of the historically forgotten population.
You have the opportunity to align the goals of the nation, not in the markets and economic power groups, but in the people, she said.
The Cortizo government in the last four months has faced the challenge of governing in the midst of the largest health crisis in history, a situation that has left collateral damage in the economy and disrupted much of the government's program.