Would be second try presidential candidate Juan Carlos Navarro who ran an ineffectual campaign in  2014 jumped into the pre-campaign arena holding a damp squib. on Thursday, March 15 after a homicide in a mall parking lot.

On Twitter, Panama ’s former two-term mayor set out to identify himself as a law and order candidate claiming that the country was in its worst state of insecurity in its history  He Tweeted: “The country is aimless, prey to shootings, assassinations, robberies, even kidnappings, they are our bread every day. We must immediately implement a plan of integrated security  with  crime prevention and frontal  combat  crime at  the national level.”

TVN, a recipient of the message was quick to point out a misfire as they did a  fact check.

and posted online: “Insecurity itself is difficult to measure since a large number of crimes are never reported. However, let's see what the official data says, starting with the homicides.

"In the last 15 years, homicides in Panama increased dramatically until 2009, a record year in which 818 were recorded. [Navarro ‘s 10-years  in office ended on June 30, 2009] Since then, they have steadily declined, and for 2017 they reached just over half, with 412 homicides.

"According to the 2016 Citizen Security Report, 17% of respondents reported being the victim of acrime that year, almost all thefts and robberies. This is 2% less than in 2014. In addition, in 2017, 388 fewer impact crimes were reported than in 2016, according to the National Police.

"The data indicate that homicides are at their lowest level since 2006 and that fewer people reported having been victims of a crime in 2017 than in previous years. The statements of Juan Carlos Navarro DO NOT PASS the check.