US embassy cable - 05PANAMA780

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PANAMA 000780 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, ETRD, PM, POL CHIEF 
SUBJECT: PANAMA: U.S. SOUTHERN COMMAND GENERAL CRADDOCK 
MEETS PRESIDENT TORRIJOS, CANAL ADMINISTRATOR TO DISCUSS 
BILATERAL SECURITY ISSUES 
 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
1.  (SBU) In cordial, back-to-back April 4 meetings, U.S. 
Southern Command General Bantz Craddock met President Martin 
Torrijos and Canal Administrator (ACP) Alberto Aleman Zubieta 
to underline close U.S. Panama cooperation on security 
matters and to discuss the growing bilateral security agenda. 
 Topics included New Horizons, Canal security, High-Value 
Transits (HVTs), Maritime Security, Canal expansion, drug 
trafficking, gangs, annual Panamax exercises, and 
international crime.  Panama's new proposals for information 
sharing and a "Strategic Alliance" with the United States 
were mentioned but not elaborated.  (See Septel.)  End 
Summary. 
 
New Horizons 
------------ 
2.  (SBU) Accompanied by Vice President/Foreign Minister 
Samuel Lewis, Minister of Government and Justice Hector 
Aleman, and Consejo Chief Javier Martinez Acha President 
Martin Torrijos told General Craddock on April 4 that Panama 
has nothing but praise for the U.S. Defense Department's 
annual New Horizons humanitarian operations (based in the 
Azuero Peninsula for 2005) and suggested a venue near the 
Caribbean coast for 2006.  Torrijos repeated a suggestion 
heard before that New Horizons build a road to connect 
Panama's poor, isolated Caribbean coastal communities with 
the remainder of the country.  Siting New Horizons near the 
Caribbean could help improve security for that largely 
unpatrolled coast, Torrijos said.  Gen. Craddock said his 
staff hopes to reduce the current five-year planning horizon 
to better support regional allies. 
 
New Strategic Plan 
------------------ 
3.  (SBU) The GOP is "very eager" to present its strategic 
plan to the U.S., which Torrijos claimed would make a major 
contribution to the Global War on Terrorism, but he did not 
offer specifics.  (Note: MOGJ Aleman held in-depth 
discussions in Washington with DOD and DHS on April 4, to be 
reported Septel.)  A "gateway" country, Panama depends on 
secure maritime trade, travel, and communications to protect 
its 2.5 million annual transit passengers, the 
world's-largest commercial ship registry, and the five major 
fiber optic cables that cross the Isthmus. 
 
Drug Trafficking 
---------------- 
4.  (SBU) On drug trafficking Torrijos agreed with Gen. 
Craddock that criminal organizations thrive in "ungoverned 
space" and added that drug trafficking problems touch every 
fiber of Panamanian society.  The GOP has a broad spectrum of 
counter-narcotics programs that include controlling the 
movement of precursor chemicals and interdiction, Torrijos 
emphasized. 
 
HVT's, PANAMAX, ENDURING FRIENDSHIP 
----------------------------------- 
5.  (SBU) Gen. Craddock told Torrijos that he highly prized 
Panama's support and cooperation for High Value Transits 
(HVTs) of the Canal.  Torrijos replied the United States 
could "count on Panama."  Commenting on the annual Panamax 
Canal defense exercises, Gen. Craddock mentioned that Panamax 
now includes some 12 different countries.  Torrijos said 
Panama would like to add Brazil to the Panamax list.  A new 
$5m program to improve regional maritime security -- Enduring 
Friendship -- would provide communication links among 
Caribbean and Central American nations, possibly beginning 
with Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Bahamas, and Panama. 
Enduring Friendship would enhance Panama's institutional 
capabilities, Gen. Craddock said.  (Note: Enduring Friendship 
aims to strengthen regional governments' control of their 
sovereign territory and provide for robust maritime 
interdiction to better combat international crime and 
terrorism.  End note.) 
 
Late April Gang Conference 
-------------------------- 
6.  (SBU) Torrijos told Gen. Craddock the Central American 
presidents plan to invite him to a late April meeting to 
focus dealing with vicious, well-organized gang members who 
are deported under U.S. immigration law to their home 
countries, where they overwhelm weak intelligence and 
security systems. 
 
ACP's Impressive Canal Operation 
-------------------------------- 
7.  (SBU) In his meeting with ACP Administrator Aleman 
Zubieta, Gen. Craddock praised the Canal's "extraordinary" 
cooperation in facilitating HVTs and congratulated him for 
his "impressive" overall Canal administration.  Gen. Craddock 
observed that the Panama Canal is a critical element in the 
globalization of trade, which also explains why it is a 
tempting and vulnerable target for terrorists trying to 
attack Western interests.  The USG is studying the maritime 
security component of homeland security, Gen. Craddock said, 
especially ports, shipping lanes, and key choke points, all 
of which directly concerns Panama. 
 
Canal Capacity Running Out 
-------------------------- 
8.  (SBU) Aleman commented that a looming capacity crunch is 
driving the Canal's modernization and expansion plans.  The 
recent explosion in world shipping traffic is due to 
globalization, the fall of communism, and the spread of free 
market capitalism, especially China's entry into the world 
economy via the WTO, Aleman explained, while the Canal and 
other critical components of the global trading system are 
racing to keep up.  One reflection of the integrated global 
system that now exists is the ACP's effort to sign MOUs with 
many U.S. ports.  Everyone is now part of the same system, 
Aleman said; it's not a zero-sum game. 
 
Canal Referendum Must Pass 
-------------------------- 
9.  (SBU) While the ACP faces no real engineering, 
environmental, or financial problems in Canal expansion, 
Aleman continued, the GOP needs to work harder to ensure 
passage of a planned, constitutionally mandated 2005 or 2006 
referendum.  Aleman said he worries that many Panamanians 
believe that they have no economic stake in the Canal's 
future.  A failure by Panama to modernize and expand the 
Canal will have serious implications for world trade, Aleman 
predicted.  In that case, the Canal will become a "choke" 
point for global seaborne commerce in the literal and 
negative sense and will become relegated to a regional role. 
South American countries have a huge economic stake in the 
Canal's future, especially Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and 
Chile.  The InterAmerican Development Bank views Canal 
expansion as the largest and most economically important 
infrastructure project in Latin America, Aleman added. 
 
Improving Canal Security 
------------------------ 
10.  (SBU) The ACP is working hard to improve Canal security 
(and of associated ports), Aleman said, but will need help 
(read USG) to complete the job.  Specifically, the ACP is 
looking for outside assistance to train ACP personnel to 
analyze critical shipping data.  Panama lacks indigenous 
capability for that type of analysis, he said. 
 
11.  (SBU) Cruise ships are among the Canal's most vulnerable 
targets, Aleman continued, and he fears above all an "Achille 
Lauro-style" terrorist hijacking that ends with blowing up a 
cruise ship in Canal, possibly killing thousands of 
passengers.  Such a scenario would have catastrophic 
implications for Panama's and the Canal's image and 
operations.  To prevent such an occurrence, the ACP wants to 
share information with USG agencies to produce more reliable 
intelligence on cruise ship passengers and crew, and also 
needs better capabilities to analyze data. 
 
 
WATT