OPINION: Nature kidnapped by corruption 

Illegal logging of the forests and protected areas of East Panama and Darién is a highly profitable business. This activity is carried out with total impudence before the incapacity of the authorities, who lack the resources or the political will to fight this crime. To such an extent comes this impunity, that confiscated wood by the Ministry of the Environment in the county area of ​​Madugandi was disappeared in a matter of days since the authorities were not able to ensure the confiscated trucks. In Darién all kinds of strategies and practices are used to extract precious woods, devastating the most biodiverse province of the country, and ending with a natural treasure. The system of forest controls and authorizations is collapsed. The Ministry of Environment has on its shoulders too complex and sensitive responsibilities that require human talent and skills absent in that entity. For decades, Panamanians have witnessed the deforestation of an important part of the Canal basin, the coast above Colón, Bocas del Toro, East Panama, and Darién. It is not an accident or a coincidence that the institutions that must prevent this are weak. It is a shame that 97% of the timber that is illegally harvested in the country comes from Darién. Nature, like other public goods, is kidnapped by politicking and corruption- LA PRENSA, Mar.23