This Monday morning, the university professor, writer and editor Ileana Golcher, filed a Habeas Data against the director of Patrimonial Assets of the Ministry of Education (Meduca), Aníbal Stanziola.
Golcher has denounced the loss of 9,412 books that rested in the Eusebio A. Morales Public School Library of the National Institute.
“More than 50 days ago I personally presented a note to Mr. Stanziola, a note where I asked for an explanation as to where the books that had disappeared from the National Institute were and to date he has not answered,” he commented.
He stressed that since 1971, the National Institute is a Cultural Heritage of the Panamanian nation, which implies that the State must protect these assets. “How is it possible that these goods have disappeared overnight? According to the librarian there are 9,412 very important books, we are not talking about any library,” she specified.
The writer stated that during the two years that the campus was closed due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Meduca did nothing to restore the library; “It really is a shame and the shelves are rusty and empty.”
He indicated that it is not known who gave this order, adding that a principle of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic has been violated, which indicates that when these changes are going to be made there must be a written note so that the entity (Comptroller’s Office) proceeds to make a discard.
The professor has provided a series of photographs that show the abandonment in which the library is located, in addition to the letters sent to the Meduca in which they request details about the whereabouts of the books and the files that remained in the monument to the cultural heritage of the country.
