Following an Ordinary General Assembly in which mayors and representatives from all over the country participated, Nadine González, mayor of the district of Pinogana (Darién province), was unanimously re-elected to preside over the Association of Municipalities of Panama (AMUPA) for the period 2027-2029. During her speech, the re-elected president took stock of the progress made during her previous term and outlined the priority goals for the coming years, placing special emphasis on financial decentralization and the autonomy of local governments. “We have a major challenge: to find more resources for local authorities, an issue that hasn’t been addressed for years. This was demonstrated during the recent earthquakes that shook our country, where the first response and reaction came directly from local authorities,” González emphasized.
The president of AMUPA insisted that municipalities need a fixed percentage of the state budget allocated to address the needs of their communities. However, she acknowledged that this requirement goes hand in hand with a high degree of accountability. “We are aware that the resources allocated to us must be used transparently and with citizen participation,” González stated, while warning that the union will rigorously monitor that the funds transferred from the Central Government to local governments are executed under strict standards of transparency and public reporting. The new AMUPA Board of Directors, made up of 21 members who will assume the commitment to represent the municipalities of the country, will formally take office at the beginning of next year, 2027.
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