Panama is like the “Texas” and “California” of immigration.

Human Interest

It is obvious that it is the function of the government to maintain public order throughout the national territory. For the fulfillment of this obligation, the existing laws determine which are the entities responsible for the preservation of the legal system of the Panamanian State.

In a community that only registers turbulent outbreaks in its interior, generated by its associates, the Public Force is sufficient and unique to maintain or restore peace. No one can think of asking another government to come to the aid of the territorial government to quell the “natives” in their mutinies or disorders.

Internal peace can be further complicated if armed forces of other countries invade our country. These forces could have different signs and depending on the severity of the strange presence, the State would take appropriate measures. In such an eventuality, the first task is to identify the invading group in terms of origin and purposes.

Let us apply the ideas that are exposed to the conflicts that arose in Darién.

If the invading forces are directed, e.g., by the Government of Colombia, Panama would have to dedicate itself to a state of war, would summon the entire population to assume national defense and subsidiarily could seek the pacification auspices of the United Nations. But if the invaders are simple criminals who do not respond to a mother military organization and are only motivated by looting and crime, in that case the punitive action of the Public Force and the simultaneous political management before the Government of Colombia would be enough to prevent with energy, that criminals without God or law cross Panamanian territory.

There is, however, another possibility, according to complaints from other sectors, and that is that the actors are the Colombian guerrilla forces. If the armed gangs that travel with their immunity in Darien obey the commanders of the historic guerrillas of the FARC or the ELN that have dozens of years of struggle without being defeated by the strongest Army in the region, then Panama would be the victim of an aggression that could well cause the internationalization of the conflict that arises at intervals on the border. In the presence of this possibility, the Panamanian Public Force would not be able to achieve what the Colombian Army has not achieved to defeat the insurgents. We can only seek the support of the United Nations if the intensity of the aggressions recommends it.

Presented in this way the panorama of the border, it is necessary to analyze, by way of exclusion, what is the real identity of the force that unsettles Darien and what is its exact consequence.

First, any official Colombian involvement in the cause of the conflict must be ruled out absolutely. Likewise, the possibility that what happens on the border has its origin in the guerrillas fighting the Colombian government must be ruled out. The exclusion obeys an elementary logic or a simple appreciation of the insurgents’ strategy. These guerrillas for many years have been maintaining and consolidating themselves in a bilateral shed. Neither the Army has been able to defeat the guerrillas nor have they defeated the Army. This resigned conclusion has the parties at the shaky peace dialogue table.

“First of all, any official Colombian involvement in the cause of the conflict must be ruled out absolutely. Likewise, the possibility that what happens on the border has its origin in the guerrillas fighting the Colombian government must be ruled out.”

At this point in the conflict, it is perhaps possible to presume that in the minds of the guerrilla leaders lurks the idea of taking the confrontation out of the bilateral framework and taking it to the international level. If today there is a virtual tie, what would be the purpose of turning Panama into a victim of aggression? Is the guerrilla looking for Panama, as an attacked nation, to turn to the United Nations to open fronts with unsuspected results?

I have no news that the guerrilla leadership is of little knowledge.

Discarded –by what is exposed– guerrilla participation in the border area. There is only one alternative. In my opinion, the only one. Gangs of criminals, highway robbers, ruffians and criminals operate on the border, for whose acts national security is not in danger. It is also the thesis of someone who knows the heart of the matter, the director of the Public Force, Carlos Barés. The repressive and dissuasive action of the Panamanian police and the energetic cooperation of Colombia would suffice and suffice to annihilate such gangs, so that its nationals in criminal management do not invade Panama.

We must not forget that certain amendments to the Canal treaties are so dangerous that they force Panamanians to use cautious language when dealing with national security. Saying that the gangs of ruffians that swarm the border endanger the security of our national territory is a serious mistake. These gangs with their illegality do not endanger the security of the country and we must repeat it ad nauseam (what could be said about Spain, where terrorism has 740 murders and that country is at the top of the tourist predilection in Europe?). If that danger that some maintain were to occur in Panama, there would be insecurity from border to border, including everything that is located there, such as the Canal. Given this premise, It would not be surprising that some nostalgics propose the creation of a new army that preserves national security and, therefore, that of the Canal, with “sophisticated weapons”. Likewise, there would be no lack of an operetta character who puts Mr. de Concini on notice so that he premieres his famous interventionist amendment.

Fortunately, the President of the Republic has been very clear in ruling out any foreign military presence in the country for the future. And I point out this official position, because I have heard what I have been commenting on as if it runs along a channel that leads to new armored enclaves. And like someone who rains on what comes wet, the last one on the Gallup slope repeats what she already reported in another consultation in 1990 when expressing that the vast majority of the population longs for the US military presence in Panama. To complete a four-way carom, the survey adds that almost the entire nation thinks that there is no security on the border, that the government does not promote it, and that the popularity of President Moscoso – who opposes the new foreign fortifications – falls precipitously, plummeting.

Darién’s epileptic drama of sporadic convulsions, starring thugs and surely mercenaries or assassins, should invite us to proceed with caution in all judgments and in all decisions. I estimate that at the time in which we live, the respondents addicted to damage or the doomsayers of insecurities and fashionable darkness in the past, have no place in the convictions of the Panamanians of the 21st century.

Originally published June 10, 2000

Border security
Border Security
Tokens
A winner in the field of the ideals of freedom
Full name: Carlos Iván Zúñiga Guardia Zuniga Guard City
Birth: January 1, 1926 Penonomé, Coclé
Died: November 14, 2008, Panama City Occupation: Lawyer, journalist, teacher and politician Religious beliefs: Catholic Widow: Sydia Candanedo de Zúñiga

Summary of his career: In 1947 he began his political life as a student leader who rejected the Filós-Hines base agreement. He held the positions of minister, deputy, president of the Popular Action Party in 1981 and leader of the National Civilist Crusade. He was recognized for his multiple criminal defenses and for his excellent public speaking. From 1991 to 1994 he was rector of the University of Panama. He has received the Manuel Amador Guerrero Order, the Justo Arosemena and the Peruvian Order of the Sun.

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