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editorial

A difficult situation to resolve, but one we can't just ignore

The Spanish government has released its report on the kidnapping of two Spaniards from Darien's Jaque district earlier this year. Spain has been far more forthright about what happened than the Torrijos administration has, but just because the facts it set forth are uncomfortable ones for this country is no excuse for the lack of transparency we have seen in this matter.

The two men were kidnapped from Panama by Colombia's leftist FARC rebels, who at one point demanded a ransom from their family. Whether the ransom was actually paid was not disclosed, but after two and one-half months of captivity in Colombia, the Spanish naturopath and his son were released in Panama.

These hostages were luckier that the three American missionaries taken from the Darien by FARC in 1993. They were held for years, and then when their existence became inconvenient for their abductors to admit, were murdered.

The Spaniards were also luckier than the several Panamanian and several Colombian citizens slain by the right-wing AUC paramilitaries in the course of their various invasions of Panama over the past decade.

In none of those cases have Panamanian authorities pressed criminal charges against the Colombians who have come into our country to commit violent crimes. That's understandable, because we are not well equipped to fight with any of our neighbors' belligerent forces. But it's still not acceptable.

Yes, Panama has a paramount interest in staying out of Colombia's endless civil warfare. It's a more important need than those of Spain or the United States to obtain justice for their wronged citizens.

Yes, if this country cooperates with Colombian authorities to arrest those responsible, in the case of FARC it would be taking sides in the conflict and in the case of the AUC it would be futile and ridiculous because that paramilitary is in fact an auxiliary of the Colombian Army. Bringing those who have attacked this country to justice is thus a difficult problem for now.

Plus, if we do bring those responsible for these crimes on our soil to justice, we would have to count on the probability of being attacked by Colombian forces seeking to retrieve the delinquents from whatever Panamanian prison holds them.

As an extra added complication, there are many indications that former President Mireya Moscoso, encouraged and abetted by the US government, lent her active support to AUC criminal activity in Panama. No matter what a rigged OAS "investigation" found, the governments of Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia and the United States in fact acted together to ship a huge arsenal to the AUC. Notwithstanding her denials, Mireya supported an AUC invasion of the Darien in which several Panamanian local officials were assassinated and even went so far as to jail a man who warned a neighboring village of the attack. Moscoso belongs in prison for having stolen an average of more than $1,000 per day of public funds to buy herself clothing and jewelry over the five years of her presidency, but her support for foreign death squads who attacked Panama was a far worse crime.

But humanity now has an International Criminal Court and a prison system for those who are convicted and sentenced by it. What we are dealing with in all of these cases is cross-border crime, in many instances against citizens of third countries, and moreover a situation in which trial in Colombia would likely be a mockery and trial in Panama would be impractical. More than just garden variety kidnappings, what we're dealing with here are violations of international laws that protect human rights and punish terrorism.

Yes, Mireya Moscoso in a most groveling fashion agreed to US demands that it will never deliver to the International Criminal Court those Americans who in violation of international law torture, murder or kidnap people, or who finance or otherwise back the likes of the AUC. It appears that Martín Torrijos has continued this policy. That obnoxious commitment ought to be abrogated, but in any case it doesn't generally apply to Colombian forces who attack Panama.

The FARC members who kidnapped the two Spaniards, and the AUC members who assassinated Kuna sahilas a few years ago, and the FARC members who kidnapped the American missionaries all those years ago, ought to be charged with those crimes by Panamanian authorities. Their names and descriptions ought to be given to INTERPOL. If apprehended, they should probably be haled before a tribunal in The Hague rather than tried here.

The only proper message to send to all Colombian factions is "You keep your war out of our country and we'll keep our country out of your war." There should be some serious sanctions to enforce both sides of this equation.

Bear in mind...

I'm troubled, I'm dissatisfied. I'm Irish.

Marianne Moore

We are severely impoverished if we do not encounter people of other faiths with reverence and respect for their belief and integrity.

Desmond Tutu

I don't really trust a sane person.

Lyle Alzado