PANAMA: MEXICAN TAKE ON QUADRILATERAL MEETING

C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 000097

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PM
SUBJECT: PANAMA: MEXICAN TAKE ON QUADRILATERAL MEETING

REF: PANAMA 00084

Classified By: Ambassador Barbara J. Stephenson for reasons
1.4 (b) and (d)

--------------
Mexico Pleased, But Somewhat Frustrated
--------------


1. (C) While Mexico was pleased with the results of the
January 16 Colombia-Guatemala-Mexico-Panama quadrilateral
security talks, the Mexican delegation had also been very
frustrated with the GOP's simplistic tendency to blame all
its internal criminal problems on the presence of Colombians
and Mexicans, without taking any responsibility for events
themselves, Mexico's Ambassador Yanerit Morgan told
Ambassador on January 29. She said Panama's biggest concern
in the meetings had been getting Mexico and Colombia to
accept rapid deportation of their citizens who were suspected
of drug trafficking and other crimes. Morgan said that Mexico
was prepared to cooperate with Panama on this because Mexican
prosecutors did have cases against almost all the suspects
the GOP wanted to arrest and send to Mexico. She said that
despite Panama's impressive achievement of pulling this
meeting together on short notice, the meeting was very
improvised and seemed to be driven by a GOP desire to achieve
results in May-June 2009, after local Panamanian elections
would be concluded on May 3 but before President Torrijos
leaves office. She contrasted the Panamanian position with
President Uribe's intervention, which described Colombia's
success through the social recovery of territory and the
development of a partnership between the people and the
government to renew the moral authority of the state. She
said she had found Uribe's vision to be more compelling than
the GOP's simplistic approach.

--------------
Mexico Ambassador Confirms Agenda
--------------


2. (C) Morgan said the quadrilateral meeting had focused on
four specific areas to increase cooperation in the fight
against organized crime and drug trafficking: (A) Creation of
a new juridical instrument, either a treaty or administrative
agreements, to increase judicial cooperation and especially
streamlined extraditions; (B) Increased sharing of
intelligence information, specifically by allowing the other
three countries access to Mexico's Plataforma Mexico data
base; (C) Closer cooperation on immigration issues, both to
keep tabs on transnational criminals, and to fight against
trafficking in persons; and (D) Increase judicial and police
cooperation in order to build up stronger cases against
suspected organized crime figures, including joint training
of security forces.

--------------
Comment
--------------


3. (C) Morgan's description of the GOP's simplistic
analysis of the crime problem in Panama is quite accurate.
The GOP tends to the simplistic solution, in large part
because it does not have the government bandwidth to deal
with issues on a more sophisticated level. Her calculus that
the plans laid at this meeting should come to fruition in
May-June are very interesting. It reinforces the idea that
President Torrijos is not actively supporting Herrera's
campaign, and that he is instead orienting government
programs, such as this one, to try to reshape his image in
preparation for an eventual bid for a second term in 2014
(this would require a constitutional change, but rumors are
that just such a proposal is begin prepared). Torrijos will
end his term as one of the most popular presidents in
Panama's 20 years of renewed democracy. The only real chink
in his armor is the increasingly popular idea that he has
overseen a dramatic deterioration in security in Panama,
especially in the last year. Torrijos has six months to
develop a counter-narrative, and the quadrilateral meeting is
one of theQools he is using to do that.
STEPHENSON