PANAMA: DEMARCHE ON KEEPING PRESSURE ON THE FARC

C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 000606 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2018 TAGS: PTER SNAR PGOV PREL CO VE HR EUN AF PM SUBJECT: PANAMA: DEMARCHE ON KEEPING PRESSURE ON THE FARC DELIVERED REF: STATE 77205 Classified By: POLCOUNS BRIAN R. NARANJO. REASONS: 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) First VP and FM Samuel Lewis thanked Charge for sharing with him reftel demarche, but did not commit to make any efforts to encourage governments and entities that historically supported the FARC to take demonstrable steps to sever ties with the FARC, deny it safe-haven, and withhold any form of material or other support. ¶2. (C) COMMENT: Post does not believe that Panama will do much, if anything, to increase the pressure on the FARC. Struggling to accept -- to say nothing of taking effective action to grapple with -- the growing FARC presence and activity on its own soil, Panama is reluctant to draw attention to itself by directly confronting the FARC. Also, GOP officials refrain from commenting on the FARC, something view the FARC as Colombia's problem, and prefer to refer to Colombian criminal organizations. MESA =======================CABLE ENDS============================