Corruption Liquidating Panama’s Forest Assets
The National Land Administration Authority (Anati) suspended the processing of 200 applications for property titles in Darien. The reason is the proliferation of these procedures in protected areas, which causes deforestation and other social and environmental problems. For example, Anati discovered that 201 property titles had already been registered in the wildlife area of the Matusaragati lagoon, although the Political Constitution forbids it. It is fair to suspect that what happened in Darien could be repeated in other protected areas of the country.
Each title of this nature implies corruption on the part of a long chain of officials, who usually protected by political sponsors, proceed to liquidate the assets of the country. Anati, the Administrative Unit of Reverted Assets of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Environment must jealously protect the last forests that we have left for Panamanians.
State lands are not currency, but a reserve for the future. This land negotiation is cancer that threatens the health of the soil and the environment in Panama. – LA PRENSA, Sep. 27
