Crime still Panamas greatest problem: survey

Government claims that Panama is now safer are contradicted by statistics. and public perception.

 In the first eight months of the year, there were 491 homicides a 2.5 percent increase compared to the same period in 2009.

Arrests have increased because of the use of the hand held monitoring device "The Pele Police" which has been condemned by legal authorities, the country's ombudsman and human rights groups, because of arbitrary arrests due to an outdated data base. But gang warfare continues, with  deaths not only among involved members and those targeted for assassination, but also innocent people caught in cross fire … what the military would refer to as collateral damage. Young  people, including babies have also been  included in the statistics. Domestic abuse killings are also climbing.

Shooting  killings have taken place in some of Panama's upscale areas. including the Marbella tourist haunt,  Calle Uruguay, and Bella Vista.  

Although there are more drug busts, critics believe that the amount of drugs confiscated indicates that more are traveling through the country on their  way to the United States, Canada and Europe. "It's the cost of doing business for the drug cartels" said one commentator.

Meanwhile the government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars, many coming from the US government, on helicopters and high speed launches for the "War on drugs".

As the seemingly endless war continues , there is an increasing call for the legalization of drugs Recently Mexican authorities burned scores of tons of marijuana while in California a referendum is taking place on the legalization of Marijuana, already widely available for "health" reasons from, headache to back ache.

In Canada there are  clinics where drugs like heroin are administered to addicts with clean needles under controlled conditions.

In a survey conducted by Unimer and reported in La Prensa 52.6 percent of people listed crime as the biggest problem in Panama, a decrease of 7 percent from the a survey conducted in June. Corruption did not come under the heading of crime.

For 11.9 percent of the respondents, the main problem was inflation and the high cost of living, while 9.5 percent cited unemployment.. Other responses included “the state of the economy," poverty and corruption.
Unimer polled 1,207 people from Oct. 7 to 11. The margin of error is 2.8 percent.

Meanwhile the killings  go on, and  figure of 491 deaths in the first paragraph, has long  passed the 500 mark.{jathumbnail off}