Welcome to the Panama Weekly News Roundup! Here’s the latest.
Panama: Mass grave uncovered in area linked to religious sect.
Police in Panama say they are investigating a mass grave which they believe contains the remains of people killed by a religious sect.
Investigators are supervising the removal of skeletal remains from the site in the remote north-western indigenous Ngäbe-Buglé region.
Public prosecutor Azael Tugri said investigators had had to hike for 10 hours through mountains to reach the mass grave, which is in the northern sector of the Ngäbe Buglé region close to a river.
The site is about 350km (210 miles) west of the capital, Panama City.
“At this time it is not possible to determine either the sex or the number of people [found in the grave],” he told local media.
Source: BBC.com
Panama calls for bids on $2 billion water-shortage project.
The Panama Canal authority has put out a call for bids on a $2 billion package of water supply projects aimed at combating a drought that affects the fresh water lakes that supply the canal’s locks.
The projects will seek alternatives for the water currently supplied by the Gatun and Alajuela artificial lakes.
Ideas suggested in the past include building dams, transferring water from other lakes to Gatun, or building desalinization plants.
This year the canal began collecting a freshwater surcharge from ships transiting the inter-oceanic waterway to address a scarcity of rainfall after the surrounding watershed recorded its fifth driest year of the last seven decades in 2019.
Source: WTOP News
PANAMA SEEING ‘SIGNS OF RECOVERY’ FOR SHIPPING TRAFFIC AND BUNKER VOLUMES.
Silvia de Marucci, Executive Manager Economic Analysis and Market Research with the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), told delegates at Petrospot’s online Global Bunkering Summit (GBS) today that: ‘Little by little, our indicators are showing some signs of recovery’.
Speaking during this afternoon’s Bunkering Hubs session, de Marucci said that the ACP had been looking forward to a ‘very good year’ in 2020, as the IMO 2020 switchover was expected to boost bunker prices and therefore incentivize more ships to use the Canal to cut their transit times. The year did start well – but then the COVID-19 pandemic rather dashed Panama’s expectations. The cruise sector, said de Marucci, was the first casualty but all sides of the shipping industry have been affected to some degree and the Panama Canal has seen a significant drop in traffic and bunker volumes.
Source: BunkerSpot
How to treat yourself and eat like a local in Panama.
Panama is a country full of diversity at every angle, and that is certainly the case when it comes to food. Panamanians have a rich gastronomical tradition that spans centuries of influence from all over the world.
If you want real, delicious, home-cooked Panamanian food, there are literally hundreds of options to choose from, whether in the city, countryside, mountains, or beach area. So in the essence of efficiency, and narrowing it down for newcomers (and long-time Panama expats), we’ve pick five of our favorite “must-eat” foods to try in Panama. Buen provecho!
