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Panama News Briefs

Colombian cocaine kingpin got a Panamanian cedula from the Moscoso administration

International drug raids show huge cartel penetration of Panama
by Eric Jackson, from other media

A series of drug raids in the United States, Brazil, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia and Panama that began on May 16 has broken up what US authorities describe as one of the world's largest illegal drug operations. The raids, dubbed "Operation Twin Oceans" by the Americans, were on warrants from a US federal district court in Florida, in a case in which is alleged that one Pablo Joaquín Rayo Montaño, a Colombian citizen, headed an international drug ring that sent 15 tons of cocaine per month into the United State. In a Los Angeles Times article, it was estimated that the gang was responsible for about 10 percent of the coke that got into North America and Europe.

Rayo Montaño himself was taken into custody in Sao Paulo, Brazil, along with 18 other suspects detained in that country. Among the nearly three dozen suspects rounded up, six Panamanians were held. The extradition of three of these, José María Bermúdez, Yovany Jaramillo Tovar and Mario Leone Kam, is being sought by US authorities. However, the Panamanian constitution prohibits the extradition of its citizens.

Those who face drug charges here are supposed to be held without bail, and the burden of proof in Panamanian courts is reversed in drug cases so that defendants are required to prove their innocence. However, for bribes that in most cases have been set at $20,000, Panamanian Supreme Court magistrates have historically been willing to ignore these procedures and release major drug suspects. When one former high court magistrate, José Manuel Faúndes, was caught in wiretaps negotiating such a payoff during the Pérez Balladares administration, the legislature ignored the evidence and acquitted him in an impeachment trial.

Along with the individuals arrested in the Twin Oceans raids, more than $70 million worth of property has been seized and this has been the most revealing of all about the extent of gangland influence in Panama. According to various reports Rayo Montaño, either in his own name, those of his family members or through various front people or companies owned or controlled the Nautipesca boat and fishing supply company, the Los Cañones restaurant near Portobelo, a major portfolio of Panamanian real estate holdings that included the Tres Marias Islands off of Portobelo, Isla Esmeralda off of San Carlos and farms, lots, houses, apartments, hotels, commercial properties and office buildings in San Carlos, Gorgona, Paitilla, the Casco Viejo, El Cangrejo, Isla Grande, La Guaira, El Guanche, Portobelo, Buenaventura Bay, Volcan, David and the former Canal Zone. Authorities here also froze the assets of 15 corporations and 39 bank accounts and seized a fleet of 34 cars and eight boats.

It later developed that, while a fugitive from Colombian justice, Rayo Montaño obtained first a visa to live here and then a Panamanian cedula. The cedula was issued during the Moscoso administration when Ilka de Barés was immigration director, and that raises yet more questions because Ilka's husband, Carlos Barés was director of the National Police at the time when the cedula was issued, and prior to becoming Panama's immigration director Ilka de Barés worked at the US consulate here, handling American visa applications.

Ilka Barés, through her husband, denies any wrongdoing.

When one considers that some of the properties that the drug ring obtained in the former Canal Zone were obtained from the former Interoceanic Regional Authority (ARI) and that various other licenses, permits and concessions were obtained from other Panamanian government offices, some of them in Rayo Montaño's own name, an explosive series of political scandals would appear to be a real possibility. However, the US government wants a free trade agreement with Panama and the approval of a canal expansion project that would be a boon to American port and shipping interests; and President Martín Torrijos has apparently made a deal with former President Mireya Moscoso not to come down very hard on her personal and her associates' corruption, so it's likely that the corrosive influence that the Rayo Montaño organization had at the highest levels of Panamanian society and government will remain largely uninvestigated for fear of uncontrollable consequences.