Panama News Briefs
Panama helps El Salvador
In the wake of El Salvador's devastating earthquake, National
Police Chief Barés led a team of police officers, doctors and
firefighters to help in rescue efforts in El Salvador, while Health
Minister Terán coordinated the collection of medicines, food and
other supplies to send to our distressed neighbors. Countries
from around the Americas, Europe and Asia have joined the El Salvador
relief effort.
Truth Commission created
On January 18 President Moscoso created a Truth Commission, which
is charged with investigating disappearances and political murders
during the military dictatorship. The commission will be headed
by Alberto Almanza Henríquez, a Catholic lay activist suggested
by Archbishop Dimas Cedeño, who turned down the post; Anglican
bishop Julio Murray; writer Otilia de Koster; human rights activist
Osvaldo Velásquez, La Prensa director and local Transparency International
chapter head Fernando Berguido; former Supreme Court magistrate
Juan Antonio Tejada Mora; and physician Rosa María Britton. The
commissioners have six months to investigate and draw up a report,
which can be extended by another three months if necessary. The
PRD is threatening a lawsuit to have the decree declared void,
as they argue that it infringes upon the powers of the Legislative
Assembly, the Attorney General and the courts, but meanwhile the
commission is at work examining the differing lists of allegedly
disappeared or murdered people to set the scope of its investigation.
Villamil denies connection with Tocumen grave
Former army officer Helidoro Villamil, whose apparent dog-tag
was found among the bones of people who were buried on the grounds
of the old Puma infantry company's headquarters in Tocumen, has
been called to testify about it by prosecutors. Villamil, who
was head of the late General Omar Torrijos's bodyguard, reportedly
denies any knowledge of or connection with the deaths, and his
lawyer argues that the identification plate found in the mass
grave dates back to 1974, a few years after the people whose remains
were found were believed to have died. That Villamil was questioned
at all represents a reversal of position by Attorney General José
Antonio Sossa, whose earlier insistence that the statute of limitations
barred any inquiry was sidestepped by relying on human rights
treaties to which Panama is a party, and which provide that there
is no statute of limitations for politically motivated disappearances.
Sossa's belated decision to investigate may be a tactical move
to put him in a position to fight a turf battle with the Truth
Commission and thus block any sincere investigation of the disappearances.
Setback for Sossa
After a January 11 preliminary hearing Circuit Judge Diego Fernández
refused to file formal charges against La Prensa journalists Gustavo
Gorriti, Miren Gutiérrez, Mónica Palm and Rolando Rodríguez, who
were charged with criminal defamation for a series of reports
alleging that Attorney General José Antonio Sossa had protected
ex-American offshore scam artist Marc Harris. The magistrate found
that Sossa had not offered sufficient proofs that a crime was
committed. Sossa objected to reports that he had deputized Harris's
henchmen to make arrests and that he had blocked a PTJ money laundering
0investigation that the FBI had requested, but the court found
that the reports were based upon the notarized statement of a
PTJ officer and that prosecutors had failed to conduct a full
and fair investigation to determine the facts of the matter. The
court also found that Sossa had not complained of the earlier
articles in the series within the proper time limits to do so.
Gorriti, Gutiérrez, Palm and Rodríguez were provisionally absolved,
but under Panamanian law Sossa could appeal or come back with
new evidence and possibly re-open the case. Miren Gutiérrez told
The Panama News that she and her co-defendants were surprised
by their victory early in the proceedings, and that "it means
that there is still hope for genuine journalists who are doing
their jobs."
Pardon in election crime case
President Moscoso has pardoned Isabel Valencia Pérez the representante
for the corregimiento of Los Hatillos in Veraguas's San Francisco
district, for illegally helping 15 non-residents to register to
vote in the community. Valencia Pérez, who lost a PRD primary
for the post to her brother, José Valencia Pérez, but then ran
as the Cambio Democratico candidate and beat him in the general
election, had been sentenced to six months in jail by the Electoral
Tribunal. Three co-defendants who were convicted in the same case
did not receive pardons.
Gay group denied legal status
The Ministry of Government and Justice has for the second time
denied a request by the Asociacion de Hombres y Mujeres Nuevas
de Panama for status as a legal entity. The group, composed of
gay men and lesbians, was denied status because the ministry found
that homosexuals "go openly against the morals of this country."
A ministry spokesman denied that the decision discriminates against
gays and lesbians.
Rio Abajo fire routs dozens
On January 17 a fire that swept through a wooden tenement building
between Calle 12 and Calle 13 in Rio Abajo left 25 families, some
105 individuals in all, homeless. One person was treated for minor
smoke inhalation but nobody was killed or seriously hurt in the
fire, which apparently had its origin in a cooking mishap.
US extradites alleged cop killer to RP
On January 15 US authorities expelled Jaime Muir, who is charged
with shooting and killing Police Sergeant Máximo De León in a
June 1995 incident in the Colon community of Buena Vista, and
handed him over to Panamanian authorities. After the slaying,
police say they found 345 kilos of cocaine in the trunk of the
car in which they say Muir fled the scene, so the suspect faces
drug trafficking as well as murder charges. Because Panama's constitution
prohibits the extradition of Panamanian citizens, there are few
bilateral agreements concerning extradition between this country
and the United States, and prosecutors say that this was the first-ever
American extradition of a suspect wanted in Panama.
Panamanian-American officer slain
Oakland, California Police Officer William R. Wilkins, a Panama
native and US military veteran, was buried on January 19 after
funeral services that drew some 3,000 police to pay their last
respects. Wilkins, an undercover narcotics officer, answered a
stolen car alert, arrested the suspect, and was shot to death
by fellow officers who say they mistook him for an armed car thief.
The funeral procession for Wilkins, whom California Attorney General
Bill Lockyer called "a true California hero," was several miles
long and included five police helicopters.
Crackdown on beach-bound buses
It's dry season, school is out and city bus drivers are trying
to make a few dollars taking people to the beach. They are meeting
with resistance. Police have been stopping the "red devil" buses
to see whether the drivers have licenses and the proper permits,
and to search the passengers for weapons and drugs. Along the
Pan-American Highway in La Chorrera dozens of the buses have been
ordered out of service and a number of arrests made — mostly for
concealed weapons — while at beach communities many roads have
been closed to buses.
