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Alfabetización constitucional: avances del proceso - Miguel Antonio Bernal coordinador de la Secretaría Presidencial

April 10, 2026·27 min·2 clips

Miguel Antonio Bernal reveals Panama has operated for 54 years with an imposed constitution, leaving citizens unaware of their rights.

1. EN CONTEXTO host Adela Coriad interviews Dr. Miguel Antonio Bernal, coordinator of the Secretaría Presidencial, about the progress of Panama's constitutional literacy and reform process. 2. Dr. Bernal serves as the leading public figure driving the constitutional alphabetization campaign and coordinates the presidential secretariat tasked with civic education on constitutional reform. 3. The episode examines how far Panama's constitutional reform movement has advanced and what structural barriers remain before a constituent assembly can be convened. 4. Bernal states that Panama has operated under an imposed constitutional text for 54 years and that civic education was abandoned for 58 years, leaving most citizens unaware of their rights, duties, or what a genuine constitution requires. 5. The constitutional literacy campaign has reached nearly 250,000 citizens through conferences, lectures, workshops, and media interviews conducted by Bernal's team. 6. President José Raúl Molino has committed to convening a constituent assembly, and the secretariat's draft calendar targets July 2026 for publishing the decree establishing requirements for constituyente candidates. 7. Bernal proposes that constituyentes must be Panamanian by birth, of legal age, and must not hold positions with command and jurisdiction in the public sector, to prevent incumbents from dominating the drafting process. 8. He estimates the assembly should have around 51 members, drawing on the 41 used in the 1945 constituent assembly, and should complete its work in 60 days, using citizen-submitted proposals already circulating — including six constitutional projects developed in Panama since 1990. 9. The secretariat's role is described as a correa de transmisión (relay), forwarding citizen proposals to elected constituyentes rather than drafting the constitution itself. 10. The Electoral Tribunal formally sent a letter of absolute rejection of participation, and its members have made public declarations against a new constitution, despite Bernal arguing this falls within their constitutional responsibilities. 11. Bernal discloses that the National Assembly's surprise decision to accelerate the election of a new Electoral Tribunal magistrate — originally due in December — to April is, in his view, a political trade for the Defensoría del Pueblo appointment. 12. Major business associations — CONEP, CAPAC, Cámara de Comercio, and APD — have shown little institutional interest in the reform process; the Sindicato Industrial refused to receive the team at all. 13. All political parties are described as aligned with the militarist constitution and opposed to reform because a new constitution would strip them of power. 14. Bernal identifies a pervasive fear among elites of genuine citizen participation, arguing that Panamanians have been denied the tools to exercise constitutional power. 15. Young people and churches have been the most receptive audiences; civic clubs such as Cámara Junior, Club 20-30, and Kiwanis have also welcomed the campaign. 16. On the canal, Bernal argues the chapter need not be substantively altered but that a Water Authority should be constitutionally established, given the canal's and the country's dependence on water as a global resource. 17. He calls for a total restructuring of the three branches of the state — eliminating what he terms absurd presidentialism, a dysfunctional legislature, and a corrupt judiciary — as the most important structural outcomes of a new constitution. 18. The interview is conducted in a direct, conversational style; host Coriad probes Bernal on specific timelines and mechanisms, and Bernal responds with candid assessments of political actors by name. 19. Panamanian listeners engaged with constitutional reform, civic participation, or the country's political institutions will find the episode substantive and current. 20. Listeners outside Panama or those unfamiliar with Panamanian institutional history will find the dense institutional references difficult to follow without background knowledge.

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