BRIEFS. politics

Procuraduría has complaint against Solórzano

Officials from the office of the Procuraduría General de la Nación said they have received a complaint filed by a group of pilots from the Autoridad Marítima de Panamá (AMP) against the agency´s administrator, Fernardo Solórzano, over his decision to grant a license to a company to operate in the Bahía de Manzanillo.

Solórzano approved an application by Caribbean Pilots Inc. to provide pilot services in the area, which serves Colón. The decision ended a monopoly held by Pilot Services Corporation.

The pilots have based their complaint on their allegations that proper procedures were not followed in approving the license. They also say that Caribbean Pilots employee Henry Pino is not competent because of an incident in January 2006.

The pilots say that a report of the incident states that Pino ignored orders from a control station that warned him of problems shortly before the mishap.

Yesterday, Pino denied he had anything to do with the January 2006 incident and praised himself as a pilot with a vast experience in the Panama Canal, and as a pilot trainer.