Violence, Sequel of US
Invasion of Panama
The 1989 US military
occupation of Panama is
blamed for the emergence
of a new form of
violence in Panama: bank
robbery.
El Siglo daily says that
after the US invasion in
1989, Panama was
devastated, giving birth
to today's criminal
monsters who are
improving their tactics.
The toppling of the
military regime and low
morale of the newly born
National Police that
replaced the Defense
Forces, along the huge
arsenal in the hands of
the criminals,
encouraged bank robbery.
A private investigator
and ex member of the
National Investigations
Department reminds that
the police had a low
morale and missing laws
to enforce created a
legal gap.
In the early 1990, some
ex militaries ganged up
with other felons and
tried luck with bank
robbery, taking
advantage of law
enforcement weakness at
the time.
By then, banks lacked
sophisticated security
devices but today they
have surveillance
cameras, armored doors
or vaults with time
clocks, so a bank hit
was a tender, juicy
stake.
The paper says there
have been several bank
robberies this year, the
later an office of Banco
Nacional de Panama, from
where the felons took
$145,000. |
