US embassy cable - 05PANAMA608

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PANAMA 000608 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN PIERCE, G/TIP RACHEL OWEN, G, INL, 
DRL, PRM, IWI, WHA/PPC/PUCCETTI FALLS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2015 
TAGS: KCRM, PHUM, KWMN, SMIG, KFRD, ASEC, PREF, ELAB, PM, LABOR, HUMAN RIGHTS,POLMIL 
SUBJECT: PANAMA TACKLES TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (TIP) 
CORRUPTION 
 
REF: 04 STATE 273089 
 
Classified By: DCM CMCMULLEN for reasons 1.4(b) and (d) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (C)  Armed with Panama's tough March 2004 anti-TIP law, 
Darien province Prosecutor Arnesia Janeth Torrero recently 
arrested indigenous National Police (PNP) officers for their 
alleged commercial sexual exploitation of indigenous minor 
girls in the remote Darien province.  In January, Torrero 
finished investigating a similar case against PNP captains 
and majors.  To protect Torrero's personal security, Attorney 
General Gomez transferred the case to Anti-Corruption 
Prosecutor Maribel Cornejo.  To date, Prosecutor Cornejo has 
not ordered any further arrests.  The GOP has worked to 
protect the victims and to educate officials in the Darien 
about the issue.  Nonetheless, victims, their families, and 
Torrero have received threats of physical harm.  High-ranking 
GOP officials, including President Torrijos, are aware of and 
concerned about the issue.  End summary. 
 
OFFICERS TARGETED DARIEN MINORS 
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2.  (C)  Prosecutor Torrero recently told EmbOffs that local 
police (PNP) officers in Darien province targeted indigenous 
minor girls, offered them alcohol, and threatened to imprison 
them if they did not have sex with them.  Darien Social 
Worker Maria J. de Culiolis told PolOff March 9 that the 
officers sometimes offered the girls suggestive clothes, 
money, or school supplies.  Social worker Culiolis also 
claimed that officers recruited minor girls to work in Panama 
City dance clubs. 
 
LOW-RANKING OFFICERS DETAINED 
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3.  (C)  Prosecutor Torrero told PolOff she had immediately 
detained approximately five low-ranking PNP officers for 
commercial sexual exploitation.  These cases are pending. 
 
CASE TRANSFERRED TO CORRUPTION PROSECUTOR 
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4.  (C)  Fearful for her life and safety, on January 27 
Prosecutor Torrero gave up responsibility for her case 
against higher-ranking PNP officers (six captains and four 
majors) and handed it over to the Attorney General's Office. 
In early February, Attorney General Gomez transferred the 
case to Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Cornejo, who is currently 
reviewing the file.  To date, Cornejo has made no arrests and 
the case is now delayed.  In spite of this security measure, 
Prosecutor Torrero reported receiving death threats.  In late 
February, Attorney General Gomez removed Torrero temporarily 
from Darien province for her own safety. 
 
LACK OF FUNDING DELAYED CASE 
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5.  (C)  In effect, lack of funding in the remote Darien 
province has caused the delay in the case against the 
higher-ranking officers.  Because of funding constraints, the 
GOP's presence in the sparsely populated Darien province 
consists almost entirely of the PNP.  The Attorney General's 
office does not have sufficient resources to send a Technical 
Judicial Police (PTJ) contingent large enough to protect the 
Darien prosecutor if the source of the threat is the PNP. 
Prior to temporarily withdrawing Torrero, the Attorney 
General's Office assigned one PTJ detective to the Darien to 
protect Torrero.  Nonetheless, Torrero still received death 
threats. 
 
PARENTAL COMPLICITY 
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6.  (C)  According to Culiolis and Torrero, parents are in 
some cases are complicit.  For example, Culiolis described 
one case in which a mother was involved with a PNP officer 
and brought her minor daughter along for another officer. 
 
SHOTGUN-WEDDING LOOPHOLE 
------------------------- 
7.  (C)  According to Prosecutor Torrero and Social Worker 
Culiolis, to thwart prosecutions, officers have in some cases 
married the minor girl.  According to Prosecutor Torrero, 
Panamanian law calls for the dismissal of sex crime cases 
against minors, including cases of commercial sexual 
exploitation, when the suspect marries the victim. 
Prosecutor Torrero believes PNP lawyers help arrange these 
sham marriages with the consent of the girls' families, 
apparently for the social security pension that marriage to a 
civil servant brings.  According to Torrero and Culiolis, 
despite warnings from the Attorney General to municipal 
judges not to marry individuals under investigation, one 
detained officer solicited and received permission to leave 
jail to marry one of the minor girls. 
 
HIGH-LEVEL CONCERN 
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8.  (C)  Darien province contacts told PolOff that the 
Attorney General, Youth Ministry (MINJUMFA) Minister 
Calderon, the First Lady, Minister of Government and Justice 
(MOGJ) Aleman, and President Torrijos all are aware of PNP 
sexual abuse and commercial exploitation or minors in the 
Darien.  Culiolis and other Darien contacts said that the 
Attorney General, Minister Calderon, and the First Lady have 
taken a special interest in addressing the issue.  Darien 
contacts are hopeful that officials will take a hard line on 
the issue of PNP abuse in the Darien, but are aware that 
negative publicity about PNP abuse in the Darien could 
Torrijos politically.  (Note:  The media and Torrijos 
opponents could raise the specter of national guard abuses 
during the military dictatorship of Torrijos's father). 
 
PREVENTION AND PROTECTION RESPONSE 
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9.  (C)  In November, shortly after these cases became known 
to the Torrijos administration, MINJUMFA conducted an 
awareness seminar in Darien province with GOP officials, 
including the PNP, that addressed the issue of commercial 
sexual exploitation of minors.  MINJUMFA continues to provide 
protection, shelter, social workers, legal assistance, and 
other services to the victims.  Nonetheless, victims, their 
families, and the Darien prosecutor have received threats of 
physical harm.  With almost no PTJ presence in the Darien and 
few places to shelter victims, the GOP struggles to protect 
victims and their families, unable to count on the Darien 
PNP. 
 
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COMMENT 
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10.  (C)  In a great step forward for anti-TIP efforts, the 
GOP succeeded in uncovering and prosecuting TIP-related 
corruption among the PNP in the Darien.  The GOP so far has 
refrained from a highly public crackdown in the province, 
apparently amid political concerns and the reality that the 
GOP's practically exclusive representative in the Darien is 
the PNP, which has de facto control of the province. 
Nonetheless, the investigations themselves and the attention 
the GOP has brought to the issue of commercial sexual 
exploitation in the Darien are a milestone for anti-TIP 
efforts in Panama and demonstrate the momentum created by the 
March 2004 anti-TIP law. 
 
WATT