PANAMA: TORRIJOS LAUNCHES "CRUSADE AGAINST CRIME"

UNCLAS PANAMA 000505

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN AND DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KCRIM SOCI PM
SUBJECT: PANAMA: TORRIJOS LAUNCHES "CRUSADE AGAINST CRIME"

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SUMMARY
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1. (U) In a March 29 address to the nation, President
Torrijos unveiled an anti-crime bill with a multipronged
strategy to fight youth crime, particularly youth gang
violence. The new bill would propose tougher penalties for
youth offenders, tighten immigration regulations, and direct
seized assets to help fund facilities for delinquent youth.
Torrijos said he would submit the bill to the National
Assembly as a top-priority agenda item the week of April 2.
End summary.

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"NO MORE IMPUNITY"
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2. (U) The GOP's anti-crime package comes in the wake of
public pressure to take action after a March 21 fire --
allegedly the result of a dispute between rival youth gangs
-- that killed three children in the Panama City neighborhood
of Curundu. In his announcement, Torrijos outlined several
measures aimed at delinquent youth, including: increasing
penalties for youth offenders, establishing specific
sentencing periods of up to 12 years based on the type of
crime and the age of the minor, and lowering of the age of
majority for youth offenders from 21 to 18. These tougher
sanctions would target the "alarming and inadmissible
impunity that seems to cover delinquent minors," Torrijos
stated.


3. (SBU) In addition to these measures, the proposed law
would discontinue the practice of removing juvenile offenses
from criminal records, Vice President Samuel Lewis told
Ambassador March 30. Currently crimes and arrests committed
as a minor were not included in criminal records, but, under
the proposed law, all offenses would be included. (Note: In
Panama, a criminal background check is a requirement for job
and other applications.) Lewis also said that whereas youth
currently remained in the juvenile justice system until age
21, under the new law juveniles would be transferred to the
adult system upon reaching age 18. Furthermore, adults who
used minors to commit criminal acts would face tougher
penalties and gangs would be treated as criminal
organizations, Lewis added.

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IMMIGRATION REFORM
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4. (U) Torrijos also called for an immediate review of
Panama's immigration system to "establish controls and stop
people with criminal records from entering the country."
Specifically, Torrijos called for the deportation of
foreigners living illegally in Panama. The proposed law
would suspend the unlimited extension of tourist cards,
limiting the validity of the cards to a 30-day stay and
allowing only one extension of up to 90 days. Torrijos also
stated that Panama was considering implementing visa
requirements for several countries. (Note: Although Torrijos
did not mention specific countries, it was widely understood
that imposition of visa requirements was squarely aimed at
Colombia.)


5. (SBU) Lewis told Ambassador that deputy head of the
Council for Public Security and National Defense (CSPDN)
Marcel Salamin had returned from a successful visit to
Colombia to discuss coordination of immigration systems.
According to Lewis, Salamin secured real-time access for
Panama to the Colombian criminal databases to better track
entry and exit of Colombians. Lewis said that when Colombian
officials realized that Panama was seriously considering
imposing a visa requirement on Colombians, Colombia was very
forthcoming on sharing information. However, Lewis added
that Panama had neither the space to detain visa violators
nor the means to deport them.

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PREVENTING VIOLENCE THROUGH ASSET SEIZURES
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6. (U) Besides toughening sanctions against youth offenders,
Torrijos also proposed measures to prevent youth violence.
These included a separate comprehensive law on child
protection as well as programs for troubled youth and
detention centers geared to rehabilitate youth offenders. To
fund these programs, Torrijos announced that cash and assets
seized from drug and other criminal busts would be directed
toward such initiatives.


7. (SBU) MFA Senior Advisor Adolfo Ahumada told POLCOUNS
March 30 that the GOP planned to include in the law a
provision allowing the GOP to seize bulk cash from criminal
operations and to spend it instead of holding the funds in
escrow. Furthermore, to recover seized cash, Ahumada
explained that defendants would need to demonstrate that the
country from which bulk cash had been shipped permitted bulk
cash transfers. The provision would also allow the GOP to
apply the law retroactively in cases of "public interest."
According to Ahumada, this would affect approximately $20
million in seized cash and goods. (Note: DEA has long
encouraged the GOP to adopt such a provision.)

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COMMENT
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8. (SBU) Panama's press and opposition commentators have
made much hay over the fact that this "security plan" is
Torrijos's fourth plan since he assumed office over thirty
months ago. It remains to be seen how effective the program
will be in combating crime versus simply mollifying public
outrage. Torrijos stated that the new measures are meant in
no way to erode social, human, or constitutional rights, but
given Panama's poor and overcrowded prison system, it will be
interesting to see how the proposed reforms to the juvenile
system will play out.

EATON