Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino sharply criticized some guarantee judges, holding them responsible for weakening the work of state security forces by releasing individuals involved in serious crimes such as drug trafficking. The head of state specifically referred to an anti-drug operation carried out at Tocumen International Airport, in which 54 people were detained allegedly linked to a drug trafficking network. «I hope and trust that the guarantee judges will keep them in prison, because it is useless for the security agencies to make the effort to detect and capture these criminals for them to later play at signing the 15 and 30», expressed the ruler with evident annoyance.Mulino stated that these decisions «are destroying the country» and lamented the lack of coherence between police actions and judicial resolutions. «I have to speak more as a citizen than as president. There is no congruence between the effort of our security entities and the way these judges treat the citizenry», he said.Although he clarified that not all judges act this way, he pointed out that «the vast majority of their decisions are disappointing in general».The president reiterated that the State must send a clear message of firmness against organized crime and those who seek to undermine the work of institutions: «It is useless to risk the lives of our uniformed officers if justice does not accompany this fight with equal determination», he sentenced.
