THE PUBLISHING group that produces Panama’s oldest newspaper La  Estrella de Panama has been forced to fire  20 percent of its work force.

The president of the Grupo Editorial El Siglo & La Estrella (GESE), Eduardo Quirós, announced, on Tuesday, August 1  the dismissal of  49  staff members, The group has faced a financial crisis since May 2016, when the US Treasury Department included the principal shareholder Abdul Waked on the  'Clinton List'. for alleged ties to drug smuggling and money laundering organizations,

American citizens and businesses are prohibited from dealing with any company on the list.

Panama’s Soho Mall and the Felix B Maduro chain of department stores, which were part of the Waked family conglomerate of over 60 businesses were put  into trust and finally sold, and the group’s duty-free operations at Tocumen International Airport were not renewed

La Estrella began as The Panama Star published by a trio of Americans waiting for a ship to take them to San Francisco during the 1849 Gold Rush.

Recorded history
Since then, in English, then in English and Spanish, and,  at one period with French added,  making it the world's only tri-lingual newspaper,   and with name changes that include The Star and Herald, whose building still stands in Casco Viejo,  it has recorded all the major events in Panama’s history including the building of the  world;s first transcontinental railway, the French attempt at constructing a  canal, a major earthquake that affected Casco Viejo and Colon, Panama’s independence from Columbia ,  the opening of the canal in 2014, the military dictatorship, the building of The Bridge of the Americas, the student massacre that led  to the Torrijos-Carter  agreement,   the 1989  US invasion,  the transfer of the canal to Panama in 2000 and the expansion of the Canal locks completed last year

The Panama Star was resuscitated as an  English supplement to La Estrella in  2007, and ran until September 2009. When it closed due to poor advertising support. Its editor, David Young launched Newsroom Panama which now has some 4,000-page visits a day.

The decision of the United States  affects the plurality of information in Panama, warn the guilds that make up the National Council of Journalism

The association has asked the government of Juan Carlos Varela to exhaust the instances to avoid the closure of the two newspapers.

Following the US decision, the group's income has been affected and additional measures will be taken, Quirós said.

The magazines Mia and Portada have been suspended said Quirós  "Following these measures, we entered a critical stage of operational and financial sustainability of the group," added Quiros, who thanked advertisers, readers and the general public for the support received during these months.

The National Council of Journalism, in a statement, lamented the difficult situation of GESE and reiterates the request to the Government to exhaust all existing instances to prevent the closure of the two newspapers.

Panama Declaration
Seven ex-presidents trade union leaders, civil groups,  business associations and thousand of citizens have   'Declaration for Panama', a document that questions US interference in the country and warns of the impact on freedom of expression with the possible closure of the newspapers.