Fears expressed that Colombian war is spilling into Panamá

Fears expressed that Colombian war is spilling into Panamá

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff


The policies of the conservative Martinelli administration are raising fears that Panamá may become more deeply involved in the Colombian war against the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia.

A shootout took place Jan. 27 between Panamanian forces and a small group of the Marxist guerrillas, according to The Panamá News. Three members of the Fuerzas Armadas died, and two were captured, the newspaper said.

The location was said to be on the banks of the Tuira River not far from Boca de Cupe in the Darién Province of eastern Panamá.

The newspaper said that this was at least the third shootout with the Colombian rebel group in the last year. Panamanian sources have been selective in giving information on the run-in, but President Álvaro Uribe in Colombia said that Panamanian forces bombarded a rebel camp in Panamá, said the newspaper, citing reports from El Espectador in Colombia.

Concerns about Panama's involvement in Colombia's civil conflict are being expressed in some of the daily newspapers, said The Panama News. A more recent run-in off the Darien coast may have been with rebels or ordinary criminals.

The area along the Colombian border with Panamá is a lawless one, but the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias
have used the area to purchase supplies and to hide from Colombian government forces.

"Other signs of the Martinelli administration's position in the Colombian internal conflict are less ambiguous: the Panamanian police wanted posters for FARC leaders posted around Darien communities near the border," wrote Eric Jackson, editor of The Panamá News. "Although Colombia's right-wing paramilitaries have attacked Panama and burned villages, assassinated public officials and kidnapped and murdered fleeing Colombians in the course of these attacks, there are no similar posters for the perpetrators of these acts."

Jackson also said in his newspaper that U.S. mercenaries are active in the region.

"If Panama is going to go to war with FARC to the extent that FARC responds in kind, even if they are depleted by defeats in their war with government forces in Colombia, the guerrillas probably outmatch any fighting force of Panama's," said Jackson. "They probably also have the funds to bribe key Panamanian security forces."

Ricardo Martinelli took office July 1 after a campaign that promised a crackdown on crime and corruption. He has a U.S. military school education as well as a conservative political orientation, so support for Uribe's war would not be a surprise. However, in Costa Rica, politicians and others are sure to be troubled by an expansion of the four-decade-old Colombian insurgency into Panamá.