Is Panama rebuilding its military?
An article that appeared in the paper today that brings additional concern for many of my readers who have expressed their dismay at what appears to be an increase in the militarization of the country. Where we used to see traffic officers and local police, we are now seeing men dressed in military fatigues and black boots carry shot guns or automatic rifles. Now there are check points along the road where any foreigner is asked for his papers and as we saw in Boquete recently, they even went so far as to remove tourists from eating establishments for not having their passports on them.
If these were just occasional isolated incidents we could pass them off as mistakes by low level officials for over stepping their mandate, but the number of emails I have received from people who live here relating their personal experiences leads me to believe there is more to the story. One thing is consistent and that is that the "immigration officers" are expecting to be paid off to leave you alone, even though your papers are in order. I received two such stories this morning.
Now we have learned that a new proposal has been drafted to create a border patrol and other new law enforcement agencies under the pretense of adding security. My rant follows.
Security changes proposed
As Ministro de Gobierno y Justicia Daniel Delgado Diamante begins a series of meetings with U.S. officials in that country, officials here will begin examining proposed changes to the country's law enforcement services.
Erich Rodríguez Auerbach, the secretario de Comunicación del Estado, said that before leaving, Diamante presented a draft of proposed security changes to the Consejo de Gabinete.
There will now be a round of discussions about the proposal with various stakeholder groups.
The draft proposes the creation of several new law enforcement agencies, including an intelligence service, a border patrol and a national security agency. It also proposes the creation of a Servicio Nacional Aeronaval.
It also calls for reforms to police regulations that would change the way appointments are made within the department and how issues such as national defense and public safety are handled.
Although the draft has not yet been released publicly, there are already calls for public input into its development.
Maribel Jaén, executive secretary of the Comisión de Justicia y Paz, said that the proposals need to take into account the needs of society.
Juan Carlos Mastellari, president of the Asociación Panameña de Ejecutivos de Empresa (APEDE), said that the proposals are very sensitive in nature, and need the public's support to be successfully implemented.
In particular, the creation of an intelligence service is sure to remind many Panamanians of the former military dictatorship when the army's G2 unit was used to investigate and punish dissidents.
Delgado, meanwhile, will be meeting with U.S. officials to discuss greater cooperation between the two governments in regard to security.
Delgado said that one of his objectives is to impart his “vision” of regional security in relation to dealing with matters such as drug trafficking. Delgado will be meeting today with U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to discuss that issue. The minister will also meet with congressmen and officials from the State Department during his tour, which will end Friday.
Panama is seeking millions of dollars in aid from the U.S. to increase its ability to combat drug trafficking.
So now Panama is falling into the same trap of exchanging freedom for perceived security and they will receive "help" from the U.S. government in order to implement it. It is the same old story we see time and time again. First you create fear and then you implement a solution which always means more power to the government and less freedom for the people. This is a country that not long ago got rid of a dictator who was head of the military and they abolished that military in order to prevent it from happening again. Now they appear to be moving right back into that same situation when a generation has not yet passed. We can only hope that cooler heads prevail and the people end this proposal before it gets off the ground. If our recent experiences with jackbooted thugs is any indication, a whole bunch more of them with more power will only add to the problems foreigners and locals alike will have to deal with.
