OP ED: James “JB” Bryson– If the tone of PNO seems giddy with all this Varela stuff coming to light, it is only natural. I mean please see that I have absolutely expected this same skullduggery, backstabbery, and fully predictable Panama government to play out this way.

So just so we are all current, the former Prez who spent his entire term chasing his old boss over private conversations, is now hollering for everyone to protect privacy rights!!!! Love this guy,

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https://www.prensa.com/judiciales/Juan-Carlos-Varela-filtraciones-comunicaciones_0_5441455803.html

The former president of the Republic, Juan Carlos Varela , called on Wednesday those who have been affected by the alleged leak of their WhatsApp chats through a digital site to “defend our rights.”

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  Alleged communications by former President Juan Carlos Varela are disclosed on the internet
  Through a statement, Varela asked with it “not to let those who stole our people’s money want to deprive us also of our dignity.”

Varela said that the “illegal” interception, alteration and filtration of his private conversations represents the “lowest act of cowardice of my political adversaries.”

Read here: Varela holds Martinelli responsible for leaking his communications

“The main objective of these leaks is undoubtedly to erode the credibility of our democratic institutions and divert attention to cases of corruption and the fight against organized crime in the country,” he says.

He adds that this objective has resulted in the resignation of Kenya Porcell from the position of attorney general of the Nation. Porcell announced Tuesday that he will leave the Attorney General’s Office five years before the expiration of the period for which he was appointed. The announcement came in the midst of the storm that generated the “Varelaleaks” scandal.

Read here: Kenya Porcell stands aside; Cortizo will appoint attorney

“Corruption at the highest levels of the government of Mr. Ricardo Martinelli cost the Panamanian people more than a billion dollars,” says another part of the statement.

Former President Varela (2014-2019) also noted that for “purely destabilizing” purposes they have filtered their private conversations with their family, friends and “with many other people who came to me as president of the country.” “Only they and I will know the real context in which these exchanges took place,” he says.

Finally, Varela apologized to his family, to all those affected by the leaks and to the country, for this situation caused by “those who insist on challenging justice.”

The Varelaleaks site disclosed the alleged communications of Varela, in 2017 and 2018, with Porcell; Comptroller Federico Humbert, and former director of the National Security Council, Rolando López. Also with entrepreneurs – like Pedro Heilbron, Stanley Motta, Taher Yaffar and Guillermo Liberman, among others -; Panamanian lobbyist Jaime Lasso; the vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, and the former lady Lorena Castillo de Varela, among many others.

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