All across Colombia on February 4, huge crowds held marches and rallies to denounce the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), a leftist rebel group that, counting its precursor groups, has been waging a guerrilla campaign since the 1940s. FARC holds hundreds of hostages, including soldiers and police officers captured in battle, politicians and public officials abducted for political propaganda reasons, and people thought to come from families wealthy enough to be coerced into paying ransom.

Colombian communities abroad, including the one here, joined in the protests.

FARC operates mainly in rural areas of Colombia and is very strong along the Panamanian border adjacent to the Darien. However, even though FARC operates in large, sparsely populated geographical areas, the group has relatively little public support among Colombians. Especially unpopular is the rebels' industry of kidnapping people for ransom or, more rarely, as a political statement.

The issue has come to a head recently, with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez offering to mediate a hostage release, being rebuffed by Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, and then despite the opposition of the Bogota government arranging the release of two high-profile FARC hostages whom the group had held for years. Especially annoying to Uribe and many Colombians was Chávez's subsequent call for governments around the world to remove FARC from their lists of terrorist groups and recognize them as belligerents in a long-running civil conflict. That suggestion has garnered little support anywhere.

Even a lot of human rights activists who are as critical or more of the Colombian government and the paramilitary death squads with which it is linked as they are of the FARC have joined in the outcry against FARC and its kidnappings. Thus, although some particularly thuggish Colombians --- including backers of paramilitary groups that have on several occasions attacked Panama, stealing aircraft, assassinating Panamanian public officials and Colombians against whom they held grudges, and vandalizing churches, schools and health clinics here --- were supporting the anti-FARC protests, most of the protesters probably can't fairly be described as partisans of the other sides' violence. (FARC, by the way, has also occasionally attacked Panama, and in 1993 kidnapped three American missionaries from a village in the Darien, and killed them several years later after fruitless attempts to extort money for their release.)

Shown here are protesters, mostly Colombians, who marched in Panama City streets that on February 4 were largely devoid of traffic as many city residents were in the Interior for Carnival celebrations.

There is a strong current in Panamanian public opinion, actually one of the motives for Panama's existence as an independent country, that we don't want to have any part in Colombia's incessant internal warfare. Colombians by far comprise the largest group of non-citizens living in Panama, some legally, some illegally. To many a Panamanian, the concept of "Colombian" is largely synonymous with "thug" and the conflict between FARC and other leftist rebels on one side and the government and the right-wing paramilitaries on the other is seen as something of a war among ruthless gangsters, with one of the main prizes at stake the ability to collect payoffs from the drug cartels. It's surely an unfair stereotype to apply to most of the Colombians here, but the fact that so many people adhere to it is a powerful fact that lurks under the surface of Panamanian political, social and business life.

The bidding to build and run a "mega-port" at Farfan, a former US Navy housing area adjacent to the former Howard Air Force Base, may be off. One of the three qualified bidders, Singapore PSA Corporation, which is already developing a commercial port at nearby Rodman, has dropped out of the competition. The other two companies, the partially Chinese state-owned China Overseas Shipping Corporation (COSCO) and the San Francisco-based Marine Terminals Corporation, are, according to La Prensa, considering teaming up to present the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) with a joint proposal. Many economists are predicting that the US economy is going to be in recession and that US imports from China will stagnate or decline for awhile, notwithstanding the Panama Canal Authority's referendum campaign predictions of a constant and steep growth over the coming 20 years. This is already reflected in a slight decline in US-bound containers going through the canal so far this year. That, plus the thawing of the Northwest Passage long before anyone had expected it, have the world maritime industry hedging its bets about the Panama Canal's importance. The bottom line may be that Panama won't get as good a mega-port investment deal as had been contemplated.

US visa restrictions in particular and hostility to foreigners in general are again making it easier to travel to and from Europe without dealing with the Americans. There is now Air Caraibes air service between Panama and France that consists of Wednesday and Friday Panama to Guadeloupe flights, connecting to flights from that French Caribbean island to Paris.

Okke Ornstein - I wrote Sam Taliaferro over at the PrimaPanama blog last week after I had found a new video on YouTube from Ruben Blades' IPAT promoting Panama. After watching it a couple of times, I wrote to Sam:

"I don't know what you think but I don't see anything in these spots that could not have been shot ANYWHERE in the region/Caribbean. There's nothing specifically Panamanian in them. It's just a bunch of almost random steadicam shots jammed together on - whatever that music is they used."

(The SteadiCam, by the way, is a camera mount with a gyroscope fixed to your body that allows you to make smooth walking shots. In Panama they aren't available to the best of my knowledge, you need to rent one in the US plus a good operator and it takes FOREVER to get these shots done.) Well, before we continue, let's watch the video:

 Am I right or am I right? This could, for all practical purposes, have been shot in the Ardennes and Antwerp, in Belgium! Some You Name It, We Frame It outfit has obviously been paid a scandalous amount of money for this monstrum.

 I suggested Sam T. that we get together and figure out a way to do this better, get the tourism industry lined up and do a real campaign. I haven't heard from him about it other than that he's talking on his blog about the ads, but eventually the tourism sector in Panama will need to do something to offset the ineffective wasting of money by IPAT. Any ideas?

Instant update: Maybe they can ask the James Bond crew to shoot some decent promotion footage? 

There is something about this picture that, well, we can't quite put our finger in on.

From 6 o'clock this morning angry SUNTRACS members have barricaded streets all over Panama City after one of their members was shot in the back and killed by a policeman yesterday in Colon.

 The police was unable to stop the protesters. Students of the University of Panama took to the streets as well, blocking the Transistmica, and again the police could do nothing.

 President Torrijos has ordered a full scale investigation into the assasination  of the union member yesterday. However, SUNTRACS wants an independent commission to investigate instead of the police investigating the police. Union leaders pointed out that two killings last year, one at the new highway to Colon and another who was working for the controversial Isla Viveros project who was also killed by a policeman, have not been investigated in a satisfactory manner.

Similarly, SUNTRACS denounces the fact that its construction workers work in projects without required safety measures being in place, which caused tens of workers to die last year. But nobody is in jail or even investigated.

The riots in Panama City are expected to continue tomorrow and probably the days thereafter. If you have news or pictures, please sign up and post them here! 

 

Due to the possibility of violent protests throughout Panama City 
during morning rush hour, the Consular section, will delay its 
opening on Thursday, February 14 to 9:00 a.m. The demonstrations are 
in response to the killing of a member of Suntracs, a construction 
worker's union in the city of Colon.

For personal security and safety reason U.S. Citizens are therefore 
urged to avoid Punta Pacifica/Paitilla neighborhoods of Panama City 
and the area around the University of Panama where the demonstrations 
will occur.  By avoiding these areas you minimize risk and avoid 
turning yourself into a potential target as an innocent bystander.  
U.S. Citizens should also exercise additional caution at all times 
when moving around city.

For updated information on the security situation in Panama, please 
contact the American Citizens Services Unit of the U.S. Embassy at 
207-7000.  The Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy is located in 
Building 783 (besides the Colegio de las Esclavas), in the Clayton 
section of Panama.   The Consular Section fax is 207-7278.   The 
Embassy web site is http://usembassy.state.gov/panama and e-mails 
should be address to Panama-ACS@state.gov.   

This sunday 17 february SUNTRACS organized a wake in Panama City for Airomi Smith, the member who was assassinated last week in Colon. Only a handful of people attended, maybe 25. Here are some B&W pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting sequence of articles and events in La Prensa. The twelfth of this month, they report that French foreign minister Kouchner, US Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Lewis Navarro meet in New York to discuss Noriega. See: http://www.prensa.com/hoy/herald/1262299.html

As you know, France wants Noriega, and the US wants to send him to France. The Torrijos goverment, or at least the yuppies in it, doesn't want him here and (foreign) entrepreneurs in Panama can't sleep just thinking about a return of Noriega. So what is there to talk about, then? Officially, we don't know. Today La Prensa reports that the US is not giving information about the extradition. See here: http://www.prensa.com/t.asp?d=080221p1272415 So, let's connect the dots ourselves.

What else is happening today? Right, the first debate about the new code of criminal procedure. What does that have to do with Noriega? Everything, but nobody will tell you so. One of the new articles establishes the right not to be tried in absentia and it is retro-active...

Timing is, of course, of the essence. The new penal code, which allows Noriega to have his sentences converted to house arrest, will go into effect this May (his friends were already painting his mansion last year when he was to be released initially). So, first the idea was to have Noriega safely tucked away in France for the rest of his life, so that he can't stir up shit in Panama. But Noriega is resisting fiercely, and so is the Noriegista wing of the PRD. They had better plans for the old dictator: First, he would go to Bolivia, where housing and legal assistance had been arranged.

Yes, this is a scoop, and I have it from the horse's mouth so to speak.

Yes, the Chavez-Morales axis is pro-Noriega. The enemy of my enemy, etceteras.

Then, this year he'd return to Panama, have his prison time converted to house arrest first and then, from the comfort of his narco mansion, get the Supreme Court to rule the convictions null and void because he had been tried in absentia.

And today, it looks as if this plan is still marching. Internal PRD struggles have no doubt to do with this, as the appointment of Pedro Miguel Gonzalez, I can tell you, was also a result of pressure by pissed Noriegistas who had even planned festivities for their hero's return, but saw him "betrayed" by the yuppies in the PRD in cahoots with the hated gringos. Reason enough to push for a hostile appointment and torpedoe the free trade agreement in the process.

This, of course, begs all sorts of questions, to name some: Why this flip flopping by the government about Chavez paying SUNTRACS and that Cabal story in El Siglo about Chavez paying (Noriegista!) politicians like Balbina Herrera and Hector Aleman? Is it really flip-flopping (it's fun to see Don Winner struggle with this one for example)? And why now? These rumors have been flying around for years.

What new light is shed on this knowing that Chavez supports a return of Noriega to Panama?

And, today also in La Prensa: SouthCom visits Panama. The chiefs, that is, to talk with "entrepreneurs" and politicians about "security." But that is the second SouthCom visit in just two or three weeks (nobody reported the first one). Why?

Well, the Democrats in Panama is a group to take into account! Big players in the international scheme of things! Here are the results:

 

Hillary Clinton: 48 votes (37.2%)
Barack Obama: 79 votes (61.2%)
John Edwards: 1 vote (0.8%)
Dennis Kucinich: 1 vote (0.8%)

A total of.... 129 votes!

More global results here.