Pubdate: Thu, 08 Jun 2000
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2000 News World Communications, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.washtimes.com/
Author: Bill Gertz, The Washington Times

WITH U.S. GONE, PANAMA IS A MECCA FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING

Panama is a haven for illegal drug trafficking and money laundering that 
has grown worse since the pullout of U.S. military forces last year, 
according to a law enforcement intelligence report.

"Panama's corrupt and ill-trained law enforcement units continue to be 
overwhelmed by trafficking efforts and are basically ineffective in their 
struggle," says the internal report obtained by The Washington Times.

The May 2000 report says Panama has made "few inroads" in the battle 
against illegal drug trafficking and financial crimes during the first half 
of 2000.

The failure is blamed on the country's new president, Mireya Moscoso, and 
"the U.S. withdrawal and turnover of its military bases and the Canal in 
January 2000."

Panama's Tocumen International Airport has "a serious security problem . . 
. with internal conspiracies involving ramp and cargo personnel who 
facilitate narcotics loads," the report says.

Flights by the Panamanian carrier, COPA, will begin soon to Los Angeles and 
will create new problems for airline and airport security that "already has 
its problems keeping narcotics off . . . aircraft," the report says.

Chinese and Russian organized crime groups also are using Panama for 
smuggling illegal drugs, weapons and aliens.

"Intelligence sources indicate that Chinese and Russian organized crime 
factions are active in narcotics, arms and illegal alien smuggling 
utilizing Panama as a base of operations," the 11-page report says, noting 
that the number of Chinese nationals in Panama increased dramatically in 
the past five years.

The intelligence report was produced by a U.S. government law enforcement 
agency involved in monitoring imports. The name of the agency was withheld 
at the request of an agency spokesman.

The report also says a Chinese company that leased port facilities at 
either end of the Panama Canal obtained the concessions through "an unfair 
and corrupt contractual bidding process."

The company, Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa Co. Ltd., runs the 
facilities at the strategic ports of Balboa and Cristobol, on the Pacific 
and Atlantic respectively.

"Its major shareholder, Li Ka-Shing, reportedly has ties with the Red 
Chinese government," the report says. "Shen Jueren, the communist official 
who heads China Resources, and Li Ka-Shing, owner of Hutchison Whampoa, are 
both reportedly partners in a Hong Kong bank."

China Resources owns 10 percent of Hongkong International Terminals, 
Hutchison Whampoa's flagship company, whose majority owner is Li Ka-Shing, 
according to a 1997 memorandum from the U.S. consulate in Hong Kong.

Senate investigators identified China Resources in 1997 as "an agent of 
espionage — economic, military and political." The firm also is linked to 
the Lippo Group, which was implicated in illegal campaign donations to the 
1996 Clinton-Gore re-election campaign.

The intelligence report was produced to assist U.S. law enforcement 
agencies in tracking illegal activities in Panama. Any people or cargo 
entering the United States from Panama should be watched closely, it says.

The report is expected to be discussed Friday at a hearing on Panama's 
security by the House Government Reform subcommittee on criminal justice, 
drug policy and human resources.

According to the report, Panama's political instability, economic woes and 
criminal activities began after the December 1989 arrest of Gen. Manuel 
Antonio Noriega by the U.S. military. The situation has not improved under 
Miss Moscoso, whose administration has been unable to cope with the 
activities, despite increased efforts at drug interdiction.

"Panama remains a major transit country for cocaine and increasingly 
heroin, due to its proximity to Colombia and other narcotics-producing 
nations and its apparently inadequate border, airport and maritime 
controls," the report says, noting the government is facing "a difficult 
uphill battle."

Drug seizures by authorities in Panama declined by 80 percent last year 
from 1998 levels, and "no major narcotics traffickers or money launderers 
were arrested."

Experts on the region supported the conclusions of the report.

"The increase in drug activity is a direct consequence of closing Howard 
Air Force Base, and the loss of radar coverage by AWACs planes that are no 
longer flying out of there," said Tomas Cabal, an investigative reporter 
based in Panama.

"The Panamanians have no way to defend themselves," said retired U.S. Army 
Lt. Gen. Gordon Sumner, a former chairman of the Inter-American Defense 
Board and former ambassador-at-large for Latin America. "We've withdrawn 
our capability and left them vulnerable to whoever wants to come in. The 
narcoterrorists have money and they have bought their way in."
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