Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05PANAMA2038
2005-10-11 20:02:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Panama
Cable title:  

PANAMA: UNHCR - AID EFFORTS UPSTAGING GOVERNMENT

Tags:  PREF PREL PM 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PANAMA 002038 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREF PREL PM
SUBJECT: PANAMA: UNHCR - AID EFFORTS UPSTAGING GOVERNMENT
ON PANAMA'S FAR FRONTIER?

REF: PANAMA 001711

Summary
-------
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PANAMA 002038

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREF PREL PM
SUBJECT: PANAMA: UNHCR - AID EFFORTS UPSTAGING GOVERNMENT
ON PANAMA'S FAR FRONTIER?

REF: PANAMA 001711

Summary
--------------

1. (SBU) UNHCR's unwavering support of refugee rights and
its aid to Colombian civil-war refugees has given it great
status and respect in Puerto Obaldia, a Caribbean town 200
miles from Panama's capital on the coastal border of
Colombia. However, the distance from Panama City seems much
greater as a result of its small size and geographical and
political isolation. PolOff traveled to the town of 500
persons (60% of whom are of Colombian origin) with UNHCR
representative Gonzalo Vargas Llosa and representatives of
"Fundacion Los Pueblos del Bosque", a Panamanian NGO that
administers the UNHCR aid, to demonstrate U.S. concern about
refugee issues in Panama and to observe UNHCR/NGO sustainable
development projects. Although the flow of refugees into
Panama from Colombia slowed during the last seven years,
UNHCR aid continues in the form of small business loans to
help fully integrate the Colombians into Panamanian society.
Former Panamanian MFA Deputy Nivia Rossana Castrellon,
accompanying the group, visited the region for the first
time. End summary.

Panama or Colombia?
--------------


2. (SBU) Throughout his fast-paced tour, the local
population warmly greeted Vargas as a returning hero and
accorded him the respect usually reserved for a high ranking
government official. The Government of Panama (GOP) lacks
presence in the remote area and the UNHCR has filled the
vacuum, gaining credibility through its aid programs and
unwavering defense of refugee rights. Politically, Puerto
Obaldia may be in Panama but geographically it might as well
be in Colombia. The majority of the inhabitants are
Colombians and watch Colombian satellite TV. Even much of
the music played in the town's bar is Colombian. The
Panamanian National Police (PNP) has a barracks and maintains
four check points with machine guns and sand bags around the
edge of the town to protect it from FARC or UAC incursions.
The picturesque Colombian village of Sapzurro is just a short
boat ride away, however. Former Deputy Foreign Minister
Castrellon spoke about the difficulties the Government of
Panama has in maintaining its influence in the region.

.......where everyone knows your name
--------------

3. (SBU) Describing Puerto Obaldia as geographically

isolated is an understatement. Part of the Kuna Yala Comarca
on Panama's Caribbean coast, the area has no roads and can
only be reached by airplane or boat. Many small homes have
dirt floors. Electricity is available for several hours a
day from portable gas powered generators. Panamanian
National Police (PNP) and Immigration officials quickly
notice outsiders, ask them to explain their presence, and
present their documents. The town's several paved streets
and sidewalks are clean and free of litter, cars and trucks.
Dogs, chickens, and little children roam the streets. The
Caribbean Sea surrounds Puerto Obaldia on three sides and it
is separated from Colombia by low lying rugged coastal
mountains. Although the town is located in the Kuna Yala
Comarca (an indigenous reservation) most of the population is
Afro-Panamanian.

Identities and nationalities questionable
--------------

4. (SBU) Refugees fleeing Colombia's civil war began to
arrive in Puerto Obaldia in 1997. The exact number of
Colombians who entered Panama's remote Darien border region
is believed to be around 800. Some "internal" refugees came
from La Bonga, a remote Panamanian village that historically
had a mixed population of Colombians and Panamanians. La
Bonga was known as a village where the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas rested and staged
operations. Because of its FARC connections, the
paramilitary Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC) attacked
La Bonga in 1997 killing five people. The remaining
villagers fled to Puerto Obaldia.


5. (SBU) Following the attacks at La Bonga, the Government
of Panama (GOP) granted the Colombians temporary protection
for three months. Today, eight years later, 120 Colombians
remain under protective status in Puerto Obaldia, unable to
work legally or travel outside the village. UNHCR and
Embassy have been encouraging Panama to resolve the status of
Colombian refugees (see REFTEL). A large problem for
Colombian and Panamanian authorities is identifying who is a
Panamanian and who is a Colombian or possibly an Ecuadorian.
Many people born in remote villages have no birth
certificates or national identification cards from either
Panama or Colombia. A Colombian consular officer maintains
an office in Puerto Obaldia and he assists Colombians in
obtaining documents such as birth certificates and cedulas
(national identification cards) to prove their identity. As
part of the UNHCR visit, the NGO representatives delivered
Panamanian refugee identification cards to 24 Colombians who
had been living in Puerto Obaldia since 1997. This group had
recently documented their identity as Colombians and their
status as refugees with the help of the consular officer. A
group of 42 Panamanians who also had never been documented as
citizens before received their cedulas from the NGO
representatives.


6. (SBU) Many of the Colombians refugees now have wives and
children in Panama. Vargas went from house to house advising
them to register their children with the Panamanian
government. The case of two six-year old twin brothers show
the difficulties faced by many refugee families in this town.
The boys were born in La Bonga to young parents who are
alleged to be FARC members. No one has seen or heard of
their parents for several years. Their Colombian grandmother
is raising them but has no documents proving they are
Panamanian. The NGO is trying to get permission to enroll
the boys in school even though they are not documented
Panamanians.



7. (SBU) A variety of facilities in the village have
received aid from the UNHCR, NGOs and other organizations.
The main street houses a small library funded by the German
embassy in Panama and contains several bookshelves with
novels, history and geography books, and health information.
A small theater (Cine de la Gente, approximately 10 x 20
feet) filled with folding chairs is located in the same
building as a two-table restaurant near the library. The
theater plays to full crowds and shows current DVDs three
times a day on a 27" inch TV, charging twenty-five cents for
children and fifty cents for adults. Sodas and food can be
ordered from the restaurant and eaten while you enjoy your
movie.

City Hall
--------------

8. (SBU) The UNHCR contingent spent all day and part of the
evening visiting various people in the village and receiving
updates on the impact of their programs. The corregidora
(who functions as magistrate and mayor),Senora Luna,
provided a long report on all recent events in the town from
her office that displays both a Colombian and Panamanian
flag. The director of the local school sat in on the report
since most of the conversation dealt with school issues.
Both the corregidora and the school director were concerned
about five children in the village that have been missing
school to work on their family's plot of land located near
their former village of La Bonga. Other families in the
village also return to plant beans, rice, and corn near La
Bonga. The corregidora and the school director both thanked
the UNHCR for the support provided to the school and other
projects throughout the town. The UNHCR is not shy about
advertising - all items purchased with the assistance of
UNHCR are labeled with a sticker in both English and Spanish.



9. (SBU) The village school, built with UNHCR assistance,
has a total of 179 students in grades one to seven and five
teachers. The students in grades one to five attend classes
in the morning while the sixth and seventh graders attend
school in the afternoon. Students attending both sessions
begin their school day with a meal served in the small school
cafeteria before beginning classes in one of the five
classrooms. Some of the students come from the islands
located off the village's coast and will spend the school
week with families in the village. The school director
believes a boarding facility would encourage more students
from the coastal islands to attend the school. The school is
flanked by banana trees and a pen containing several pigs,
some of which will be slaughtered to provide food for a
festival later this year.

Small Loans yield Big Results
--------------

10. (SBU) In 1998, the UNHCR began providing health care,
food, clothing, and rent subsidies to the refugee in Puerto
Obaldia. In July 2005, UNHCR changed their strategy from
providing basic subsistence to one of making small loans for
the refugees to start small businesses. In Puerto Obaldia,
five small family run stores have received loans of $350 to
purchase refrigerators or freezers. The stores then begin to
stock and sell small quantities of fresh meat, poultry, ice,
soda, beer as well as non-perishable products to their
neighbors and become economically self sufficient. Two
families have started small restaurants using the small loan
program from UNHCR. All borrowers are in the process of
repaying the loans and some are requesting additional loans
for other purchases. Four other families are using the same
loan program to raise chickens, turkeys, and pigs as a
business that makes them self sufficient.

Not quite Paradise
--------------

11. (SBU) While Puerto Obaldia may appear to be a tranquil
Caribbean village, the problems are real and similar to the
difficulties that exist throughout the country . The town
has a dedicated doctor but his clinic and equipment are
clearly outdated and he cannot perform even minor surgeries.
There is no dentist. Any equipment or supplies needed in the
town arrive by airplane or boat from Panama City or Colon
which is becoming increasingly expensive as the cost of
gasoline rises. The young people leave the town for jobs in
Panama City or Colombia. The Colombian refugees who make up
the majority of the population, however, will not return to
their homeland despite the currently lower level of activity
by Colombian guerrilla groups. Although there have been no
attacks in the area by Colombian guerrillas for three years,
the fear remains. The Colombian refugees would rather live
under the harsh conditions in Puerto Obaldia than risk losing
their lives if they return to Colombia. Also, Vargas and
Castrellon describe the living conditions in Puerto Obaldia
as much better than those found in other Panamanian refugee
communities in Jaque and Alto Tuira.

Whose country is it anyway?
--------------

12. (SBU) Comment: The work of the UNHCR in this far
corner of Panama is certainly commendable. The ubiquitous
presence of UNHCR posters announcing World Refugee Day and
other events creates a sense that the UNHCR is the shadow
government in the town of Puerto Obaldia. While sovereignty
is a word that appears in many places in Panama, this border
region is clearly at the edge of the influence of the GOP.
The border regions of Panama are vulnerable to many problems
- drug trafficking, human smuggling, guerrilla activity - and
the absence of a strong government presence makes these more
likely. Maintaining control of borders and government
presence is an important part of sovereignty. The Colombians
have settled in Puerto Obaldia and other Colombian border
towns are now part of Panama although the GOP has not yet
decided to treat them as such. If the GOP were to assume the
role of the UNHCR in providing assistance in the border area,
it would be a significant first step in improving ties with
this isolated part of the country. End comment.

EATON