Odebrecht Will Pay For Statue in Panama
The construction of the statue of Santa Maria La Antigua announced on Tuesday by President Ricardo Martinelli, will have the appropriate involvement of the Brazilian company Norberto Odebrecht. Taysha Nurse, Head of Public Relations of the Office of the First Lady said the company that is building the third phase of the coastal strip, and other companies, would make a financial contribution to this project commemorating the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the South Sea. "Odebrecht is within this beautiful project as a partner company. On Monday we will be finalizing details of how to proceed, if it is full or partial funding," she said.
Although president Martinelli said on Tuesday the effigy would be the size of the BBVA building, located on Avenida Balboa (25 floors), Maria del Pilar de Moncada, the managing director of the Office of the First Lady, said the location or size of the sculpture has not yet been defined. The idea of building this monument to the patron saint of Panama is a consensus among the committee of 500 years of the first diocese on the mainland Santa Maria la Antigua, the Catholic Church, and the national commission to commemorate the fifth centenary of the discovery of the ocean Pacific, led by the Office of the First Lady.
De Moncada said Odebrecht suggested to the committee that the Brazilian artist Felix Sampaio could be the sculptor of the project. While the design will be done by a Panamanian, who has not yet been chosen. According to his website www.felixsampaio.com.br, the artist is the author of large sculptures in Brazil.
The Archdiocese of Panama reported that the monument "will house a religious museum, a hall for celebrations of faith, and display the various invocations of the Virgin Mary venerated in the continent." We attempted to contact Odebrecht to expand the information, but there was no answer. (Prensa)
Editor's Comment: The government of Panama has given the Brazilian company Norberto Odebrecht whole lot of money and contracts over the past few years. They could kick some of that back to build a statue. I still think it should go up on top of Ancon Hill, looking down on Panama City - you know, like the Cristo Redentor in Rio.
