So this is why I have to be careful about what I say on my blog, because it’s been known in the past that Panamanians will go after you if you say anything negative about them.

Most people say negative things about large corporations & the government & do those entities go after them all & sue them & steal all their money? I’m sure it’s happened somewhere in the US or Canada, but HERE it HAS happened. I won’t mention what happened & I only know what other expats have told me.

Here in Panama many small communities won’t go after the people who rob people (unless it’s a Gringo), but they have no problem attacking people who speak their mind. I’ll detail an example below of a couple who got beaten & robbed in their own home after their 3 dogs were poisoned. It affected me emotionally as I abhor violence & to beat up senior citizens who are 60-80 years old is just NUTS!!!

So this conversation took place in one of the Yahoo groups. Mike is the male half of the couple who were first terrorized by Panamanian thieves, then when they called the cops, they were thrown in jail because Mike has a very painful eye ailment & so he grew ONE pot plant in his backyard. The cops saw it & threw both of them in jail the same NIGHT they had been beaten & their items stolen.

We thought it was all good news when a month or so later they apprehended some of the thieves, but then we found out…

“I believe the only reason there were suspects arrested is because we have been paying a private individual to do the investigating.

The police were afraid to go to the house of the head man in our assault because the family is very wealthy and well armed. Rumors that this family has made it’s fortune in selling drugs, money laundering and thieving also abound but I have no proof of these activities. Nor can I prove the allegations that this family regularly pays off corrupt DJ officers in Volcan.

I have very little faith in the work of the police here. I am friends of many of the police and during my time in jail and in the hospital the police were really great. But the system!

One prominant family had a video of an individual twice robbing their home. Thr robber spent not one night in the jail. Gracias corregedura.

The system here is very easy of thieves. It’s nearly accepted as part of growing up here.

One of the people arrested in our robbery has been a part of two other burgluries in our house in the past. Those burglaries were duly reported with nothing ever happening. This same young man was identified as one of the people invilved in the robbery and shooting of one of my neighbors. The police have done nothing about it.

After our assault and robbery, last month, the DJ was here all night. Other items that were on my desk after the robbery were then taken. A maglight flashlight and a Claro modem were stolen. How can I explain this. The only people here were police? Guess someone thought I wouldn’t notice.

I really like some of the police. I have donated often to them. Buying coffee, coffee pots and paying for truck repairs over the years. But I was really put off at the meeting yesterday with the police huggers telling us that everything was great and getting better.

If you are robbed and want to revover your belongings hire a private investigator. That is my advice. I can give you contacts to such people.

I only hope things are getting better with the police but in my eyes they are still being directed by Max Sennett.

Remember Wild Bill? The police did nothing in that case. It was all family and friends of the deceased who came up with the culprits and pushed until something was done.

Sorry but Shirley and I don’t share the love. We will wait to see proof of a new better police.
So far nothing has been returned to us. I am having doubts about that.

Respectfully
Mike Cook”

I read it & could feel Mike’s pain which saddened me, but then the next day a local wrote this & I was SHOCKED!!!

“Hi Mike & Shirley

I am writing you because I am concerned about your problem, as we, throughout the community, have been trying to deal with your problem in one way or the other.

There are a lot of people that have been concerned and one of them is Luis Howard, who I know after your arrest,  called the Chief of Police and others involved in trying to help your case which included the Mayor, the Governor of Chiriqui and other high ranking individuals here inPanama.

Luis Howard was helping you without people knowing about it except for a few people who are his friends.

Now he has read your letter and he was not very happy about it, because in the past we have been a community very fragmented and we have not been able to get the community together.  As a Panamanian and American citizen he has helped to do this  and he wants to see a Panamanian American community working together and developing a good community that we can be proud of , such as Boquete, El Valle, and Coronado.

You’re  making comments and remarks on a public forum, as you are doing,  will do nothing but harm the whole community and separate the community as it has been for a long time in the past.

First of all, you do not make accusations without having proof of it.  This can result in someone placing a lawsuit against you for slander, and also you have a bigger problem than that:   you are making accusations against  government officials  which means
you are having to fight the whole nation, which is not too smart.  If you were in the US and did the same thing, you would be fighting the US government, now you are fighting the Panamanian government. I think you are getting into an area where questions will have to be answered to the Government and the US Embassy for aiding and abetting against the Panamanian government and you will be lucky if the Government of Panama does not file charges against you for slander.

You are a very knowledgeable and smart person and, as you know, in the US when they catch you with drugs the property seizure law is effect – in Panama the same applies.  If you are caught with drugs on your property, your property can be confiscated and you have forfeited it as it is a part of a drug seizure.  The only reason that you have your house is the Panamanian officials you are punching in the face are the ones that put their hands on their heart and let you keep your house as the house should have been banded with yellow police tape with a DO NOT TRESPASS sign on it.

Doing one wrong does not give you the right to fix it with another wrong action.

The American community is a group of very proud people, coming from a country that is called the land of opportunity.  Now you are coming to a third world country, trying to live the same as you did in home country, and you cannot have both of these worlds.
He asked us to tell you to stop with the slandering, because there are no good benefits  to the community;  both  the Americans or the Panamanians, because what you are doing is harming the rest of the population and burying everybody into your problem.

You brought this problem onto yourself and now you are trying, again, to involve everybody with it.  It is very selfish when you create your own problem and then try to get everyone involved in it. Remember you are the one who has the problem, not the police or anyone that your posting has gone to.

Let the police do their work.


Bob Wald
Luis Howard”

My gawd, despite all I bitch about, I had NO idea the Panamanians hate the foreigners that much. There are many expats here who love Panamanians, so to  hear these threats really upsets me. The Cooks have enough they have to deal with & now this???

Granted Mike mentioned one name in his entire post & just generalized the rest of the way & this is how they treated him.

People, be careful what you say online, you don’t know what they can do to you.

There is corruption in every country, but most cops & people who have influence in the US & Canada don’t go picking on one individual or couple, especially when it’s clear they are in pain AND what they are saying is true.


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