Record drug seizures but corruption ignored in Cortizo report to the nation

“In 2021, as a result of 565 operations against organized crime and drug trafficking, 128.7 tons of drugs were seized, 40 tons more than in 2019, a historical record for the country,” said President   Laurentino Cortizo Sunday, January 2 when delivering a management report to the National Assembly.

“In the national fight against crime, I have not negotiated, nor will I negotiate with criminals,” said Cortizo. In his 20-page address delivered in an hour and a quarter, there was no mention of corruption. When running for office he had vowed no one would be spared no matter how powerful.

Panama is a transit country for drugs that are produced in South America and whose main market is the United States. More than 80 tons of the drug seized until last October (98.6 tons) was cocaine, according to official data.

Homicides increase
Panama registered a rise in homicides, which until last November totaled 494, above the 456 and 393 in the same period of 2020 and 2019, according to the statistics of the Public Ministry.

In recent months there have been murders in public places involving gang members, including the death of five people in a nightclub in October.

In November, the deputy director of the Public Registry of Panama, one of the crimes with the greatest impact in the country and which raised complaints about the alleged “infiltration of organized crime in politics “of the country.

Cortizo, 68, said this Sunday that “most of the homicides” in Panama are linked to organized crime, such as drug trafficking and gangs, closely linked to the drug trafficking business and hitmen.

He affirmed that his Government “makes and will continue to make great efforts” in the fight against crime, “increasing well-structured operations to,” which have borne fruit such as the destruction “since 2019” of a total of “14,257 weapons “more than double what the two previous governments destroyed together”.