Farmers join illegal logging outcry

Environmentalists have been joined by cattle farmers in the fight against logging in Panama which in 11 years has devastated an area almost the size of Hererra province.

Luis Martinez,  president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (Anagan) demanded on Sunday, April 29, that  the National Customs Authority (ANA) do more to stop international timber smuggling that proceeds from the robberies that are occurring in cattle ranching areas. Martinez's said on his radio showThinking Aloud,  on Sunday that the wood has been cut down illegally and stolen in recent months in  grounds of Los Santos has not been seized and has been exported. "As farmers we will request a meeting with the director of the ANA, Gloria Moreno de Lopez, to stop the crime. ANA has to find containers being sent to the international market with stolen timber from producers of the Azuero region. In the province of Los Santos, according to preliminary reports, there is a cartel  composed of eight gangs of illegal loggers, who have smuggled thousands of feet  of board to the Asian market.