Network of Museums and Visitor Centers of Panama asks the president not to sanction Law 638

Several organizations at the national level feel displeased and excluded regarding the debate on Law 638, which was approved on February 17, 2022.

According to Amanda Destro, president of the board of directors of the Network of Museums and Visitor Centers of Panama, the approval of this Law was given arbitrarily, with little transparency and without consultation.

In a statement bearing his signature, Destro expressed the feelings of more than five historical organizations and several museums at the national level, who believed they would be included in the debate on this Law.

For these and other reasons, they asked the President of the Republic, Laurentino Cortizo, not to sanction Law 638 so that the necessary consultations can be given to elevate history and the profession of historians in the country.

He stressed that ¨despite there being a formal and public request from various history institutions and professionals to participate in improving it, the second debate on the bill had been suspended in October 2021, after receiving communications from the Network of Museums, the Association of Anthropology and History of Panama, the Science Movement in Panama, the Panamanian chapter of the International Council of Movements and Sites, the Society of Friends of the Afro-Antillean Museum and various Panamanian museums and historians of great national and international prestige since that date we have been pending meetings and consultations in this regard without receiving a response, dialogue or inclusion in the conversations¨.