Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino emphasized that the necessary resources will be allocated within the 2026 budget. He also urged individuals who feel they are victims of extortion to file the corresponding complaints with the authorities and not to be afraid. Mulino reiterated that extortion is not new in Panama and stressed that bringing these cases to light will help address them with clarity. "This is not new in the country; there have been people dedicated to this for a long time, but what happened was that before you couldn't report it because the informant was burned faster than a conviction; the only good thing is that now everything is known," the president explained. Finally, he said to forget about what they wanted to do: "That is not the issue. The issue is what they wanted to do to a country's democratic structure, through political hooliganism in collusion with officials and civilians who thought they were something special; now everything is known, and I hope that the facts denounced, which without a doubt are many crimes, are investigated, since they themselves were the ones waving the 'fall whoever may' flag." It is worth noting that a few days ago, lawyer Karisma Karamañites referred in an interview to the supposed existence of an organized structure dedicated to extortion and blackmail. Karamañites linked these practices to political pressures; in addition, she spoke of a process to try to disqualify Mulino's presidential candidacy. President José Raúl Mulino described the supposed criminal organization, dedicated to extortion and blackmail, as "political hooliganism." "The one who extorts is a criminal and some do it publicly, others do it publicly through radio messages, newspapers, and morning interviews; and they are all extortionists and have an intent behind what they say: to get money from some idiot who pays it," Mulino sentenced. In his weekly conference, the head of state affirmed that these accusations must be investigated applying the law and that the special commissions to investigate extortions can have a happy ending. Mulino said that he held a meeting with the Minister of Economy and Finance, Felipe Chapman, to talk about the urgency that the Public Ministry has to provide resources to a series of specialized prosecutor's offices.
