Civil society organizations have described as "embarrassing" the absence of the mayor of the district of Panama, José Luis Fábrega, at a time when the country is facing one of its greatest social crises in recent years.

"It is embarrassing, given the situation of social crisis, that the mayor is on vacation, absent from his duties as a high-ranking local government official," said Xochilt Troncoso, president of Urban Citizen Network.

The statement comes after La Prensa published images of Fábrega in a store of the Zara clothing chain, on Calle de Serrano, one of the most expensive and exclusive streets of Madrid, in Spain. Minutes after La Prensa released the information, the Mayor's Office of Panama confirmed that, in effect, the official traveled to Spain, for a medical appointment at the Olympia Medical Center, "to seek a second medical opinion and thus determine if he has to have surgery again."

In December 2019, Fábrega underwent a bariatric operation, "and his health condition, after the operation, has forced him to seek a second medical evaluation," said the Mayor's Office.

However, Troncoso stressed that it is "reprehensible" that he is traveling at a time when the highest-ranking representative of the local government of the district is expected to be in the country contributing and seeking solutions to the current situation.

This [medical appointment] seems more like an easy way out of the reaction to being caught shopping while in Panama City there are serious problems and social unrest,” he said.

The journalist Álvaro Alvarado announced on Twitter, Wednesday, that on Monday, July 18, he called the Mayor's Office of Communication because he had information that the mayor was leaving the country and they told him that "it was the brother, It looks a lot like him."

According to the Mayor's Office, the appointment at the Olympia Medical Center is today, Thursday, July 21, and the mayor plans to return to Panama "during the weekend."