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PANAMA: OPPOSITION ASSAILS ADMINISTRATION FOR SIGNING TWO AGREEMENTS WITH U.S.

Article Excerpt
The major opposition party is criticizing the administration of President Mireya Moscoso for negotiating two agreements with the US. One opens the nation's banking system to US inspection and the other extends US rights to engage in anti-narcotics activities in Panamanian waters and airspace.

In 2000, the G-8's Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) put Panama on its blacklist of countries not cooperating in the war on drugs (see NotiCen, 2000-08-03). The blacklist and US pressure forced Moscoso to show more interest in combating money laundering and to work to erase Panama's reputation as a tax-evaders' paradise. Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the US government has been especially interested in tracking terrorist funds that might go through Panamanian banks.

In April 2001, Moscoso appointed a presidential commission to look into money laundering and recommend measures to get Panama off the blacklist.

After the Legislative Assembly passed laws clamping down on money laundering, FATF removed Panama from the blacklist in June 2001 (see NotiCen, 2001-06-28).

In January of this year, the president appointed a team to negotiate a new treaty with the US partly aimed at combatting...