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### Viewing cable 09PANAMA237, PANAMA: AMBASSADOR VISITS THE DARIEN

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
09PANAMA237 | 2009-03-20 19:28 | 2011-05-31 00:00 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Panama

`

    VZCZCXYZ0000
    RR RUEHWEB

    DE RUEHZP #0237/01 0791928
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    R 201928Z MAR 09
    FM AMEMBASSY PANAMA
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3175
    INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 2782
    RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1178
    RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 0956
    RUEHSJ/AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE 1998
    RHMFISS/COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC
    RHMFISS/DIRJIATF SOUTH
    RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
    RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
    RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
    RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
    RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
    RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 000237

    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2019
    TAGS: PGOV PREL KPAO PM
    SUBJECT: PANAMA: AMBASSADOR VISITS THE DARIEN

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

    -------
    Summary
    -------

    ¶1.  (SBU)  The Ambassador and several members of her Country
    Team visited the Darien province March 10-11. During the
    first day of her visit she received a briefing on the
    security situation from Director of the National Frontier
    Service (SENAFRONT) Frank Abrego and met with Darien Governor
    Juan Carlos Brin and other local GOP officials. On the second
    day she visited a number of USG funded sites in the company
    of a group of Panamanian reporters and gave an interview on a
    local VOA-affiliated radio station.

    ¶2.  (C)  The trip revealed the exisence of two Dariens: an
    economically active Darien with basic public services in
    villages along the Pan-American Highway and a much more
    isolated and poor Darien along the various river valleys.
    Throughout the trip the Ambassador met with people who were
    very favorably disposed to the U.S. and eager for greater
    U.S. engagement with the region. It was clear that the work
    of various USG-funded activities (Peace Corps, USAID and
    USDA-APHIS for the most part) in the region had played a key
    role in developing this goodwill, and that a significant USG
    supported network already exists in the region to serve as a
    foundation for future USG engagement in the Darien. Local
    leaders highlighted access to clean drinking water as the
    most important problem in the region, together with poor
    quality education, and the difficulty of transportation.
    Based on the results of this trip, the Embassy will form a
    Darien Working Group to bring all the agencies with
    experience in the Darien together to work on a strategy for
    improving governance in the Darien to reduce its
    vulnerability to the FARC and other Drug Trafficking
    Organizations (DTOs). End Summary.

    ---------------------
    A Tale of Two Dariens
    ---------------------

    ¶3.  (SBU)  The Ambassador's trip to the Darien highlighted
    the importance of transportation links in the Darien. Long
    associated with impenetrable jungle, part of the Darien has
    been dramatically transformed by the completion of the
    Pan-American Highway from Meteti down to the village of
    Yaviza in the last 5 years. As the Embassy motorcade drove up
    and down the road there were clear signs of government
    presence and economic activity everywhere. SENAFRONT police
    officers had small bases and checkpoints up and down the
    road, while the SENAFRONT Regional Headquarters in Meteti was
    fairly well equipped, thanks in part to ongoing NAS and
    SOUTHCOM funded improvements and equipment. There were
    numerous small government offices, schools, health clinics,
    power stations, and a functioning transportation system
    (greatly improved thanks to the new USAID-funded bus station
    in Meteti). There was not running water, however, as this
    continues to be a major problem in all areas of the Darien.
    While many of the houses along the road were extremely poor,
    often consisting of a few wood planks slapped together, there
    were also clear signs of economic activity, including
    numerous cattle ranches, stores and roadside restaurants. In
    many ways the "Darien of the road" looked like a time capsule
    of rural Panama 50 years ago, rather than an impenetrable
    jungle province. This is no doubt good news, but it is far
    from being the whole story.

    ¶4.  (C) While the road is one of the most heavily populated
    parts of the Darien, there is another Darien - the "Darien of
    the rivers". South of Meteti there are almost no roads except
    for the highway and a few short roads branching off of it,
    and two isolated roads on the Pacific coast. In the rest of
    the Darien south of Meteti, rivers serve as the primary
    transportation routes, and most people live on or near rivers
    or the sea. The Ambassador experienced this as she traveled
    from the Provincial capital of La Palma to Meteti by boat. In
    the Darien of the rivers, transportation is very difficult,
    frequently requiring trips in dugout canoes and subject to
    tides and seasonal changes in river levels. SENAFRONT
    Director Abrego explained to the Ambassador that the
    SENAFRONT presence in these areas was negligible, limited to
    a few garrisons in isolated towns. He described plans to
    create mobile units that could establish a periodic SENAFRONT
    presence in these areas, but acknowledged that fully
    implementing his plan would require significantly more
    equipment than SENAFRONT now has. Various people during the
    trip commented on the problems in the education system in the
    isolated villages on the rivers. Most teachers in the Darien
    are from other areas of Panama, and the difficulty in
    accessing the villages, together with the cultural isolation
    of living in indigenous Embera-Wounaan villages where Spanish
    is not the dominant language, leads to very high rates of
    teacher absences and poor professional performance. Governor
    Brin told the Ambassador that the single greatest need in the
    Darien of the rivers was clean drinking water. While the
    governor and Ministry of Health officials showed the
    Ambassador a well equipped local hospital in La Palma, most
    people living away from the road would have great difficulty
    reaching this or any of the other hospitals and health
    clinics in the Darien, or even a phone, in the event of an
    emergency. Clearly, there are two very different realities in
    the Darien, and the areas most effected by the presence of
    DTOs and the FARC are all in the isolated riverine areas of
    the Darien.

    ----------------------------------------
    Significant USG Presence, Positive Image
    ----------------------------------------

    ¶5.  (C)  Everywhere the Ambassador stopped she was greeted
    with great enthusiasm. The Grand Cacique of the
    Embera-Wounaan, Betanio Chiquidama (Note: The traditional
    leader of the two "autonomous" Embera-Wounaan areas within
    the Darien. The traditional government of these areas has no
    budget and no real governmental power, but tremendous moral
    authority among the Embera-Wounaan. End Note), called on the
    USG to take a more active role in the Darien in support of
    the security and sustainable development of the region at a
    signing ceremony at the USAID-partner Darien Forestry School
    in Canglon. At a meeting with Embera women at a local farm
    the women asked the Ambassador for help building a bridge to
    link them to an adjacent town. The farm itself benefits from
    the success the U.S.-Panamanian Commission for the
    Eradication of Screwworm (COPEG) has had in eradicating this
    devastating pest from Panama (Note: COPEG is a bi-national
    commission, 90% financed by the USDA to the tune of $172
    million since 1997, to eliminate screwworm from Panama and
    than maintain an effective biological barrier against the
    disease in the Darien Gap, thus protecting Central America,
    Mexico, and the U.S. The program maintains an important
    network of partner farms and inspection stations throughout
    the Darien. End Note) At another COPEG-partner farm the owner
    explained to the Ambassador how COPEG's work had made it
    possible to profitably raise cattle for meat and milk in a
    region where they used to whither and die due to screwworm.
    The users of the USAID-funded bus terminal in Meteti that the
    Ambassador visited were also deeply appreciative of U.S.
    assistance. The Ambassador visited two sites where Peace
    Corps volunteers had been living and working for several
    years, including the Foundation for Darien Children that has
    a nutritional program in almost every school in the Darien.

    ¶6.  (C)  The Peace Corps volunteers had clearly established
    deep ties to the Darienites with whom they lived and worked,
    creating a significant reserve of goodwill towards the U.S.,
    and faith in the USG's ability to bring effective programs to
    the Darien that could have a significant effect on the lives
    of people. Another significant source of goodwill toward the
    USG is COPEG which has changed the reality in much of the
    Darien by virtually eradicating a disease that had devastated
    the region, and then having stayed to create a large and
    highly effective network of inspection stations to keep the
    area free of screwworm. Clearly, USDA/COPEG, together with
    USAID and Peace Corps, have created a solid foundation of
    trust on which future USG programs in the Darien can build.

    -----------------------------
    Opening the Eyes of the Press
    -----------------------------
    ¶7.  (C)  Press coverage of the visit has been positive,
    highlighting USG investments in the region. In her radio
    interview the Ambassador talked about the USG programs in the
    region, and our commitment to the Darien's sustainable
    development. The journalists commented to EmbOffs their
    surprise at the sophistication of the Darienites, and the
    economic potential of the region.

    ---------------
    The Way Forward
    ---------------

    ¶8.  (C)  Moving forward on our engagement in the Darien, Post
    will seek to focus on the Darien of the rivers. It is in
    these isolated areas of the Darien that small communities are
    facing the challenges posed by encroaching DTOs and the FARC.
    They receive few services from the central government beyond
    unmotivated teachers, broken water systems, and distant
    health care. Their children are being recruited to work for

    the DTOs or the FARC, who also buy consciousness by paying
    above market rates for food and supplies to local merchants.
    FARC political operatives work to undermine faith in the
    central government's control of the area amidst an almost
    complete absence of Panamanian security forces.

    ¶9.  (C)  Post proposes to confront this challenge through a
    "whole of government" strategy. We believe the key to
    securing the GOP's control of the Darien region is to form a
    broad alliance of local groups, the various levels of
    Panamanian government, local and international NGOs, and
    International Organizations. The Ambassador's trip to the
    Darien made clear that there are many groups working in the
    Darien, but there is not a lot of coordination among them.
    Post plans to start by forming a Darien Working Group within
    the Embassy to pull in all the USG agencies that have
    experience in the Darien to draw up an accurate picture of
    what the needs are, what the existing resources are, and what
    our experience in the area can teach us. Following up on a
    request from Chiquidama, Post will then work with the Embera
    to encourage greater coordination of efforts among host
    government, NGOs, International Organizations and other
    donors on what is being done in the Darien, what needs to be
    done, and how we can work together to strengthen local
    society, and the host government's provision of services. A
    key to this strategy will be allowing local groups to take
    the lead in calling for greater coordination, while then
    using the weight of the USG to give the initiative momentum
    by agreeing to present various USG programs for broad
    consultation among this group.

    ¶10.  (C)  A greater coordination of efforts in the Darien to
    provide effective access to clean water, to improve the
    quality of education and health care can make a real
    difference in the perception of those living in this remote
    area can tip the scales against those who would benefit from
    its isolation and hopelessness. Together with a program of
    increasing SENAFRONT's capabilities, this can turn the Darien
    into an inhospitable environment for DTOs and the FARC.

    STEPHENSON

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