PANAMA PLANS ASSERTIVE, COHERENT FOREIGN POLICY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 PANAMA 002452 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN/PIERCE SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/20/2014 TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR PM POL CHIEF SUBJECT: PANAMA PLANS ASSERTIVE, COHERENT FOREIGN POLICY REF: A. PANAMA 1849 ¶B. PANAMA 2362 ¶C. PANAMA 236 ¶D. PANAMA 2274 Classified By: Ambassador Linda E. Watt for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d). -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) The Torrijos administration plans to run a much more ambitious foreign policy than its predecessor, aiming to sell the Panama "brand" to the world. First Vice President and Foreign Minister Samuel LEWIS Navarro has repeatedly indicated to the Ambassador and EmbOffs that the Torrijos team intends to establish a "coherent" foreign policy that will feature especially close cooperation with the United States and Colombia and higher profile relations with important Western European countries, such as France and Spain. "We need to make Panama a world player," he told PolCouns in a recent meeting. Lewis and other GOP officials have emphasized that Panama's most important international partner is the United States. To that end, MFA intends to establish a wholly new North America Desk solely responsible for managing Panama's relationship with the U.S. and Canada. (Note: Canada currently maintains a two-person Embassy in Panama. End Note.) ¶2. (C) Also with an eye on closer cooperation with Mercosur and on attracting Western-European investors and tourists, the Torrijos administration has sought high-level consultations with European and Latin American leaders even before winning the May 2 election, and more intensively in the transition period before Torrijos' September 1 inauguration. Both the President and the FM see Panama's foreign relations program as a motor to drive to their domestic agendas of increasing tourism, local employment, economic growth and investment, security and Canal expansion. Lewis also has spoken of making Panama's UN votes more "predictable" although we doubt that they will be more U.S. or Israel-friendly than in the past. End Summary. -------------- FM'S FOREIGN POLICY VISION -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Foreign Minister Lewis mapped out the Torrijos administration's determination to make Panama a "global player" to attract foreign investment and create jobs. "Panama has not had a foreign policy for years," Lewis complained during a recent meeting with PolCouns. "One day it's one thing, the next day it's different." Lewis described the recent whirlwind of foreign visits that Torrijos has made, saying, "We just wanted to touch base with all these (foreign leaders) to begin to form a coherent policy, and make Panama an ally of all peaceful, democratic nations." Today, the world ignores Panama, Lewis continued. Lewis and Torrijos want Panama to start playing a more visible role in world politics, to help Panama in Canal expansion, attracting investment, and creating jobs. Lewis plans to use foreign policy to promote Panama as a friendly country, a good place to invest and to visit. -------------- PANAMA AND THE USG -------------- ¶4. (C) MFA Foreign Policy Director General Dario Chiru (Undersecretary for Political Affairs) expanded on plans for establishing a new Directorate General to manage Panama's relationship with the United States and Canada during a September 20 lunch with PolCouns. Chiru said the MFA wants to establish a sole interlocutor to manage bilateral relations on a day-to-day basis (like a State Department country desk). Noting Panama's oft-mentioned "special relationship" with the U.S., Chiru explained that the MFA should try to ensure consistent policy coordination with its largest and most important partner. (Comment: Panama's strict top-down management culture makes it difficult to imagine that this system would be entirely effective or that MFA's not-yet-identified North America office director would have sufficient clout to rapidly respond to multiple daily USG to GOP requests. Nonetheless, the decision to dedicate human resources to managing Panama's relations with the U.S. is a promising step consistent with FM Lewis' vision and repeated overtures to EmbOffs. End Comment.) -------------- -------------- HONORING INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS TO FIGHT CORRUPTION -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) The GOP has acted quickly on a U.S. anti-corruption priority consistent with its own "zero corruption" campaign pledge, by opening investigations against former Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman and nine of his relatives and former officials. The Aleman group is allegedly connected with 40 Panamanian bank accounts containing some $60 million, and is under suspicion of money laundering. Ambassador Watt has reinforced to FM Lewis the A/S Noriega September 1 message to Torrijos (delivered during the inauguration) that an all-out push on the Aleman case will help Panama show its seriousness on corruption. (Reftel B) -------------- PANAMA AND COLOMBIA -------------- ¶6. (C) Torrijos has visited President Uribe in Colombia twice recently, Lewis told PolCouns, once immediately after the May 2 election, and discussed a possible Panama-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Maintaining close relations with its big neighbor to the southwest is crucial for Panama because of immigration, trade and investment, counter-terrorism, money laundering, and narcotics issues. In a Sept. 13 meeting with A/DCM and PolCouns, MFA Secretary General Daniel Delgado confirmed that Colombia has been pushing the idea of finishing the last uncompleted stretch (108 km) of the Pan-American highway to establish a high-speed link between the two countries. Panama has agreed to "study" the idea for the new road, which would bisect its Darien National Park. But Delgado signaled that Panama is much more interested in Colombian proposals to build electrical transmission lines to link the two nations, power grids than a road. (Comment: Panama,s concerns about its 150,000-200,000 illegal Colombian residents decrease its enthusiasm for a road. End Comment.) -------------- PANAMA AND THE AMERICAS -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Just prior to his inauguration, Torrijos and Lewis completed a southern cone Latin America tour (using Lewis' private executive jet),meeting with five presidents in six days. They discussed participation in Mercosur in meetings with President Kirchner in Argentina and President Da Silva ("Lula") in Brazil. Also in Argentina, Torrijos and Lewis met with Uruguayan President Batlle. They stopped in Chile to meet with President Lagos. During a fuel stop in Lima, they met unexpectedly with President Toledo when he invited them to the Palace. Prior to his July 2004 visit to Europe, Torrijos stopped in Mexico to meet President Fox, Lewis said. (Note: President Fox has announced his intention to visit Panama for its 101st birthday, November 3. Torrijos and Fox apparently intend to resurrect a previously failed attempt at a Free Trade Agreement during the visit. End Note.) Torrijos also has met with Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco. ¶8. During an August 6 press conference in Buenos Aires, Torrijos detailed Panama's interest in playing a more prominent role in Mercosur, drawing on its strengths as a logistics, transportation and re-shipment hub. Torrijos emphasized Panama's advantages as a natural conduit for channeling and processing Latin American goods intended for the U.S. and other nations. Torrijos stressed Panama's service industries and security, explaining that Mercosur should think hard about using Panama as a hemispheric merchandise distribution center. Torrijos also stressed the pending FTA talks with the U.S. and future FTAs with other nations as an added reason that Southern Cone companies should trust their products to Panama's distribution capabilities. (Note: La Prensa reported September 27 that Panama intends to become a member of Mercosur. End Note.) -------------- PANAMA AND EUROPE -------------- ¶9. (C) During his summer 2004 Paris meeting with Torrijos, President Chirac confirmed plans to visit Panama in 2005, Lewis told PolCouns. The Canal remains an investment option in France, Lewis explained, as a French/Belgian company has been involved in Canal expansion studies. Increasing French tourism is important to Panama, Lewis said, and Chirac and Torrijos proposed the start of a new Paris-to-Panama KLM route. Torrijos also met with the King Juan Carlos I of Spain and Spanish President Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero. (Note: Direct Madrid-to-Panama flights will begin in October. End Note.) -------------- -------------- IMPROVE SECURITY TO INCREASE INTERNATIONAL APPEAL -------------- -------------- ¶10. (C) The Torrijos administration is keenly interested in international security cooperation (read: with the USG) and came to power with explicit (if vague) intentions to improve Panama,s security posture. Panama,s wide areas of concern range from Canal, port, and container security to the integrity of its ship registry (the world,s largest) and the security of its identity documents for tens of thousands of mariners. For Minister of Government and Justice (MOGJ) Hector Aleman, the link between domestic security and foreign investment could not be more clear. The GOP wants companies, foreign investors, and tourists to feel safe in Panama. MOGJ is well aware of Panama,s current shortcomings. "If terrorists came to Panama right now, we would sell them candy," MOGJ aide Severino Mejia told PolOff September 15. "Panama has never had a mind to think about security issues like terrorism, but we must." Mejia said that MOGJ hopes to write or re-write organic laws to re-organize the 21 social and security institutions -- including the Panamanian National Police -- that comprise MOGJ to maximize law enforcement and security. (Note: MOGJ Hector Aleman, MFA Secretary General Daniel Delgado, and Consejo Director (NSA equivalent and intelligence chief) Javier Martinez Acha traveled to Washington during the week of September 27 to meet Department of Homeland Security, Coast Guard, and Department of Defense officials, including Deputy Assistant Secretary Roger Pardo-Mauer. Aleman and Acha likely will soon make concrete proposals to Torrijos on security. End Note.) -------------- CUBA, CHINA, TAIWAN, VENEZUELA -------------- ¶11. (C) To the dismay of the Torrijos administration, Cuba has proved unwilling to quickly repair bilateral relations that were severed following President Moscoso,s August 2004 pardon of four Cuban-born prisoners convicted in connection with an alleged attempt to kill Fidel Castro in 2000. The prospect of renewed relations with Cuba will likely remain stalled for weeks, if not months. Many are speculating that Castro may be trying to extract as yet unspecified favors or concessions from the GOP exchange for re-establishing relations. Panama continues to maintain relations with Taiwan, although unfounded rumors of an imminent switch to China (PRC) continue. Meanwhile, a political scandal is unfolding regarding Taiwan's financial support to President Moscoso's government. The press and the new administration are wondering loudly, "Where exactly did all that money go?" (See Reftel D.) The Venezuelan ambassador to Panama, Flavio Granados, arrived in Panama less than one week after the September 1 inauguration, patching the rift with Venezuela, also dating from the pardon of the four Cubans. Panama has not yet selected a new ambassador to Venezuela. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶12. (C) The Torrijos administration seems determined to multiply its options internationally, especially its economic and investment opportunities. The new GOP has announced intention to "clean up" its far-eastern consulates (such as Hong Kong, Manila, Tokyo),long a lucrative source of graft from the sale of mariner identifications and ship registrations. Although FM Lewis has spoken of the need to make Panama,s UN votes "more predictable," we doubt that they will become notably more congenial to USG imperatives. With regard to Israel, for instance, Panama B,nai B,rith President Joseph Harari recently told PolCouns that, at a meeting with Torrijos and Lewis, Harari asked whether Panama will adopt a more pro-Israel stance at the UN. Torrijos and Lewis replied that doing so could make Panama a higher-profile target for terrorist attacks, a risk they are unwilling to contemplate. WATT