Judge Baloisa Marquínez Causes Another Postponement in Odebrecht Case Hearing

In my opinion, this case has no legal basis, so we would be wasting time. However, it would be good for a hearing to be held so that the public can hear what happened during the administration of Juan Carlos Varela and Kenia Porcell, who the main actors were, who traveled to Brazil, spoke with these individuals, and how the evidence was annulled,» said Basilio González on Nex Noticias. González believes that, as happened in the previous hearing, the prosecution's witnesses will not appear, which would become another of the 20 nullities already identified in the file composed of 2,846 volumes, contributing to a new suspension. The responsibility for this falls on the person who appointed Marquínez to two different cases with hearings close in time. On the day of the hearing, authorities were awaiting responses from international legal assistance requests, so new dates were set: the main one from November 11 to December 19, 2025, and the alternate from January 12 to February 13, 2026. The Odebrecht case hearing, scheduled for next Monday, January 12, according to lawyer Basilio González, could suffer another setback due to the lack of legal support and the unavailability of Judge Baloisa Marquínez, who is currently serving functions in the Accusatory Penal System (SPA). However, the lack of responses to the requested international assistance postponed it to January 20, 2025 (alternate date). 'She cannot leave and go to hold a new hearing in the inquisitorial system, so they cannot remove her and you cannot appoint another ad hoc judge because that would be wrong,' he emphasized. Suspensions The ordinary hearing of the Odebrecht case has been suspended on several occasions. The first on August 1, 2023, because they were still in the evidence admissibility stage, setting an alternate date of September 27, 2023, on which they continued in the same phase and was rescheduled from November 12 to December 19, 2024. However, he would like the hearing to take place so that the public can hear that the lawyer for former prosecutor Kenia Porcell also had a relationship with André Luiz Campo Rabello, former director of the Brazilian construction company in Panama, and deputy José Luis Varela, brother of former president Juan Carlos Varela, who allegedly met with witnesses at the consulate to take their statements. He reiterated that under this scenario, the Court has no choice but to issue, this Friday or the same Monday, January 12, a statement explaining to the population the reason for the cancellation of the hearing and, once the judge's work in the SPA is completed, begin the process of notifying lawyers, involved parties, and accused again to set the rescheduling date. The dual role of the judge, appointed by María Eugenia López, who was then administering the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), would prevent the hearing from taking place because she cannot detach herself from her tasks within the SPA to resume the Odebrecht case through the Inquisitorial System. This latter system is the one that will be developed in the coming days. The lawyer detailed that Marquínez is acting as a rapporteur in another case, one of the most important within the judicial instance, because she is the one who carries the schedule of everything developed in the hearing, which can last up to 3 months depending on its complexity; therefore, her presence is indispensable.