THE SECURITY detail  of former president Ricardo Martinelli shrank from 46 bodyguards to 12 on Wednesday, September 3 when a  law went into effect repealing a measure the former leader pushed though at the end of his tenure increasing his security and  extending it to his family

. One of the first acts of the new government was to repeal the law.  The new standard dictates that bodyguards are only for former presidents, and not their families. Martinelli, who had built a reputation for strong-arming dissent, reverted to his favorite platform, Twitter,  to claim  President Juan Carlos Varela was "bullying" him. With the decline of the number of bodyguards assigned to Martinelli, the state will save $660,630 in salaries a year, which will help to recoup some of the deficit left behind by the previous administration.

LESSON LEARNED-  Early on in his presidency, Ricardo Martinelli  went to war with the local media, turning his guns on the likes of La Prensa and La Estrella and individual journalists from print and TV outlets, even going to the length of castigating individuals  in public. Only Panama America (which he controls) escaped his tongue and Twitter lashings, President Varela  has taken another tack  with the announcement that  he will be taking a journalist with him, on his first official visit to Europe for meetings with Pope Francis and Spanish authorities. His entourage  will also  include a priest. The journalist is Jenia Nenzen, a presenter from Telemetro.Fernando Fontane, the vicar of the parish of the Virgin of the Carmen of Juan Díaz,  Varela said he will have a journalist with him on each trip he takes. Others in the entourage are First Lady Lorena Castillo, two of his three children, Vice President and Chancellor Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado and Vice Chancellor Luis Miguel Hincapie. and The delegation left Wednesday, September 3 

After the Friday audience with the pope, , the delegation will head to Spain, where ministers Ramón Arosemena (Public Works), Roberto Roy (Canal Affairs), Melitón Arrocha (Commerce and Industry) and Carlos Duboy (Housing) will join the group.

n Spain, Varela has meetings with King Felipe VI and President Mariano Rajoy. He will also meet with Minister of Development Ana Pastor, who was in  Panama earlier this year to mediate the crisis between the Panama Canal Authority and  the expansion consortium  GUPC, The ministers will hold meetings with their counterparts from the Spanish government, and with Ibero-American Secretary General Rebeca Greenspan. The Panamanian delegation will also participate in a business forum organized by Panama’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry of Panama, in collaboration with the Embassy of Panama in Madrid and the New Economic Forum Organization.