news
Also in this section:
Panama News Briefs
Back to school
On the campaign trail
Corruption in Honduras
Slavery and rape in the Sudan
Cops and prosecutors haul Eisenmann in for interrogation
   
   
Panama News Briefs
Supreme Court dismisses gun running case
The Supreme Court has voted 8-1, with magistrate Adan Arnulfo Arjona the lone dissenter, to dismiss charges against a Panama-based Israeli businessman for his apparent part in the smuggling of some 3,000 AK-47 assault rifles from Nicaraguan police arsenals to the right-wing AUC paramilitary in Colombia. The paperwork for the transfer, allegedly forged, had it that the weapons were headed for the Panamanian police. The Panamanian police say they were not involved, but their Nicaraguan counterparts say otherwise. The transfer was approved by Oliver Garza, the US ambassador in Nicaragua, who says that he thought the arms were headed for Panama rather than Colombia. Although the AUC is on the official US list of terrorist groups, Garza has not been disciplined by the Bush administration. The Colombian government also denies a role in the smuggling operation, even though it pulled its customs officials out of the port of Turbo for several days to allow the AUC to unload the arms without interference. Human rights groups have long alleged that the AUC operates as an unofficial auxiliary of the Colombian Army, with the active connivance of the US government. A series of incidents here strongly suggests that the Moscoso administration has abandoned the traditional Panamanian neutrality in Colombia’s civil conflict and backs both Plan Colombia and the AUC death squads.
Oil spill at Galeta
About two kilometers of beach at and around the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s Galeta Island research lab is contaminated with heavy bunker C fuel oil, and authorities don’t know the source of the oil slick. Only small patches of oil have been seen at sea, so it appears that the spill did not come from far out at sea. There is a refinery nearby at Las Minas, which in 1986 spilled a lot of oil on the same beach when one of its storage tanks leaked, but the pattern of the oil’s dispersal makes it appear unlikely that the refinery was responsible this time. That leaves the probability that it was a passing ship, and because Galeta is only a few kilometers from the north end of the Panama Canal, the fact of an undetected oil spill in the area implies some serious security concerns about the canal itself. Given that the United States government maintains constant satellite surveillance and frequent aerial watch over the area for anti-drug operations, the fact that the perpetrator of the spill has not been identified also calls into question the value of reciprocal assistance that Panama gets in exchange for allowing American law enforcement activities in and above Panamanian territory. Ocean Pollution Control SA has been called in to decontaminate the area, notwithstanding a recent Supreme Court decision voiding the company’s contract with the government. This grade of bunker oil is particularly noxious when spilled, as it tends to seep deep into the sand on beaches and into the sea bottom, where it can persist for years.
Woman elected to head Embera-Wounaan Comarca
The Embera-Wounaan General Congress has elected Ilita Valdespino, a woman from Union Choco, to a five-year term as governor of the Embera-Wounaan Comarca. The mother of two adolescent sons and member of the Arnulfista Party has only a second grade formal education, but many years of experience as a community activist.
Cohen says he still has US visa
Manuel Cohen, who was Panama’s consul in Miami and who is entangled in the scandal over the collapse of the now-defunct Hamilton Bank, says that reports that he has been stripped of his US visa are false. In full-page ads in the daily newspapers Cohen claimed that he only surrendered his diplomatic visa when leaving the post of consul but still has the right to visit the United States.
Teacher’s killer gets less than six years
A 16-year-old boy who shot his math teacher to death last November in a David classroom has received a 70-month prison sentence. Had the maximum penalty for a minor been imposed for the murder of Instituto Profesional y Tecnico Diurnal de David teacher Alfonso De Gracia, the killer would have received an 84-month sentence. The lower sentence was imposed because the boy confessed, but the private prosecuting attorney hired by De Gracia’s family vows an appeal aimed at a maximum sentence.
1,500 TB cases reported last year
The Ministry of Health reports that some 1,500 people were diagnosed with tuberculosis in Panama last year. The infection, which can lay dormant in person’s body for a lifetime without showing any symptoms, especially thrives where people live in squalid, overcrowded and very humid conditions. Not surprisingly, the cases that the ministry recorded were mostly found in poverty-stricken rural indigenous communities.
Frenchman busted for counterfeiting
The National Police say that they found an operation for making counterfeit currency in a house in Obarrio, and took a French citizen into custody for it. The cops were after the man for several counts of fraud when they encountered the counterfeiting operation in a raid.
Big cocaine seizure
On March 4 police raided a rental storage facility on Via Fernandez de Cordoba in Panama City and found some 1,200 kilos of cocaine and $500,000 in cash. Two Colombians and two Panamanians were arrested later, and 11 houses and other assets were subsequently seized from alleged drug traffickers (see the news brief below). Three more Colombian suspects are being sought by police in the case.
Drug ring bought part of Clayton
The Interoceanic Regional Authority , which was created to manage and dispose of properties that came into Panama’s possession as a result of the 1977 Carter-Torrijos Treaties, has at various times imposed restrictions upon the people with whom it will conduct business. Apparently, however, Colombian drug cartels are welcome as customers. Prosecutors say that an offshoot of the old Medellin cocaine cartel linked to the 1,200-kilo cocaine cached described in the brief above bought a complex of eight houses at the former Fort Clayton and one in Los Rios, along with houses in Paitilla and Marbella. It seems that the drug gang dealt with ARI through an intermediary. ARI director Alfredo Arias protests that the institution he runs had no way of knowing that they were selling to a drug cartel.
Fishermen rescued after 10 days at sea
Four fishermen who set out on April 20 in a small boat to do some small-scale commercial fishing in the waters off the Azuero Peninsula --- or so their families said --- went missing and were presumed dead by government rescue teams after several days of a fruitless search. However, 10 days after they set sail the men and their boat, which had a broken-down engine, were rescued by a Costa Rican fishing boat, reportedly 170 miles south of Punta Burica in Costa Rican waters. The men’s story of drifting at sea appears odd because the winds and currents off of Azuero go in the direction of Ecuador, not Costa Rica. The men aren’t talking to the press, but several theories are being bandied about, given things that commonly happen in Panama’s Pacific waters. One is that the men were engaged in something other than the fishing trip they claimed when their motor conked out. Another is that the Costa Rican craft found them in Panamanian rather than Costa Rican waters and nobody wanted to admit to poaching. In any case the four men were hungry, dehydrated and suffering from serious sunburns when rescued, but were all in good enough shape to be quickly released from the hospital in David to which they were taken.
No indelible ink for this year’s elections
The Electoral Tribunal has removed one of Panama’s traditional measures to prevent election fraud, the marking of a finger with indelible ink when a person votes. The practice is designed to prevent double voting but has not always been effective. About 100 people were convicted for voting more than once in the 199 elections.
Alleged video pirates freed on political exception
Rogelio Ramos and Josefina Smith had been charged before a criminal court in Colon with trafficking in pirate videos. However, charges against them have been dismissed. The evidence for the defense? A certificate that they are Partido Popular (former Christian Democrat) candidates for the Central American Parliament. Under Panamanian election laws candidates for public office are immune from arrest and prosecution.
Legislator blasts unnamed Internet newspaper
News | Business | Editorial | Opinion | Letters | Arts | Review | Community | Fun | Travel
Galleries | Calendar | Outdoors | Dining | Science | Sports | Español | Front Page | Archives
|
