Speaking on radio station La Exitosa, Mirones said: ”It would be bad to ask a person if he is homosexual or not, because this has nothing to do with his responsibilities.”
”I believe that if the person has the moral, ethical, psychological and physical capacity to be a police officer, it doesn’t matter what his preference is or what he does at home in his free time, as long as it’s nothing illegal.”
Justice Minister Daniel Delgado Diamante was not happy with Mirones’ remarks.
”I cannot imagine a homosexual policeman and this is a situation that from a personal point of view, I reject completely,” he told local media.
Delgado added that National Police regulations prohibit homosexual acts.
Retired Gen. Rubén Darío Paredes also spoke out against Mirones, telling the newspaper Crítica: ”At first, I thought … Mirones was joking with the journalists. … I am sure that today, with calm and meaningful reflection, the director perhaps has realized that he made a lamentable slip.”
The head of the gay group New Men and Women of Panama, Ricardo Beteta,
told Crítica that Mirones’ statement was ”a very important step,” but noted that police regulations say that ”if the institution discovers that an officer has a gay or lesbian life, it is cause for firing.”
”So, he should change the regulation that now is the law of the land so that his words truly have value,” Beteta said.
Uppdaterad 2016-11-16
