American "Tourist" Shot on Via Veneto

American citizen Mr. (name removed) was shot and wounded Tuesday night during an attempted robbery at an electronics store on Via Veneto in Panama City. The victim is not really a tourist in the sense that he is a regular visitor to Panama. He has made many trips to Panama and has invested in real estate in Panama. He's from the United States, he was in the country on a tourist visa, and he happened to be in an area of the city that is frequented by tourists so the local media identified him as a "tourist" but in reality he's earned his Panama stripes. On early Tuesday evening he was on his way to a dinner date at La Poste restaurant when he decided to stop in to one of those little electronics shops on Via Veneto that sell parts, pieces, and accessories for cell phones. In a classic case of "being in the wrong place at the wrong time" four young (under 18) armed punks came into the store with the intent to rob the place. At the time there were only two people in the store, the owner and the victim. (more...)

A Gun In Your Face: There were four thieves and all of them were on drugs. Right now in Panama there's basically a crime wave being caused by the fact that Panama still has not reformed their laws with regards to minor (under 18) offenders. Even for cases of armed robbery or murder they often do two years in detention and then are released. These four guys had a plan to rob this store. Two of them were armed and used their weapons to control the two people in the store. The others jumped over the showcase to sack the cash register. An important point to understand is that these guys often get hyped up on crack in order to get the courage to actually do whatever they are planning to do. These four guys were juiced up.

Time To Go: At some point during the robbery the thieves were about to leave. It became apparent that they intended to shoot the victims in the store and run. The victim reached the point where his only options were to either fight back or die in place - so he counter-attacked. That decision probably saved his life. He flew into the skinny little cracked-up punk who tried to fend Baker off with one hand and pulled the trigger with the other (this right) hand. The victim's counter-attack had the effect of changing the angle of the weapon from center-mass to lower extremities, and he was shot just below the belt line on his left side. The punk ran out of the door to escape with the rest of his "crew."

Gun Control? In a stroke of good luck an off duty police officer happened to be walking down the street in the area and he was carrying his service weapon. He heard the gunshots from inside the store and drew his weapon but was still not oriented on what was going on, where, and who was involved, but he knew that something was happening. Right then the armed shooter exited the store and ran right into the police officer, who was already drawing a bead. The shooter responded to the officer's instructions to freeze, drop the weapon, and was apprehended. The other three participants in the robbery escaped on foot.

A New Nickname: These little mini gang-bangers like to hang names on themselves. In a completely unrelated situation I just happened to be at the police substation in Rio Abajo late that Tuesday night. The National Police have a specialized sub-section called the "Policia de Menores" or the Minor Police that is focused and concentrates on crimes perpetrated by under-aged offenders. I was getting some general background on the whole junior gang-banger issue when a police car pulls up with a kid in cuffs. Guess who? The shooter from the Via Veneto robbery. I watched him being booked and processed. He was so scared that he had soiled his pants, and one of the first priorities (not for him, but for everyone else in the area) was to get him into the shower to get the stink off of him.

Priors, New Life of Crime: This kid was already a suspect in a case from a year ago in which he apparently shot and killed another kid. After he was booked his mother showed up at the police substation to bring him food. In talking to the officers at that station, one of the problems they have is that every year there are a whole new batch of kids moving up and into the system. This organization is usually the first to have official contact with these kids, usually when they are involved in some kind of a crime. They usually start with minor street crime, petty theft and shoplifting. They then graduate to the drug trade and act as runners, lookouts, and soldiers for the adults who are running the drugs at the consumption level in the neighborhoods. They are basically running loose with no respect for anything or anyone and the only thing they understand is direct force. And every year a whole new batch hits puberty.

Time to Reform the System: There is now a growing discussion within the Panamanian justice system with regards to modifying the law to allow for minors to be charged and prosecuted as an adult. I interviewed several sitting judges who were happy to provide their personal opinions but requested their names to be withheld for political reasons. One of the major problems is that Panama has signed several international agreements and treaties which were originally intended to guarantee basic human rights and to prevent abuses of state power, torture, and corruption. But the unintended effect of these treaties is that it is now much more difficult for Panama to change their laws to begin to treat minors as adults. The "system" is really nothing more than a jail to separate these minor offenders from the rest of society for a few years and there is no element to try to save them from their predestined futures, teach them responsibility, respect for law and authority, and to keep them from spending the rest of their lives in the "system."

Bleeding Hearts (The Other Kind): If you want to get a feeling for the impact of street crime in Panama, go down to the entrance of the Santo Tomas emergency room on a Friday night, right after the sun goes down. If you want to make sure you have an active evening, go on a Friday that's also a payday. A little extra money makes sure that everyone has a few beers (or whatever) in their system to give them the guts. You will see a parade of injured victims and criminals being wheeled in with a mix of gun and knife wounds. One guy came in a couple of weeks ago because he had his nose bit off. Many of these people will be minors involved in one side or the other of local gang wars. The bleeding heart side likes to say that these junior criminals will only be further corrupted by a two or three years stint in jail, where they will basically spend their time with others who are in the exact same situation. For a criminal-kid in Panama, going to jail is simply grad-school. They get turned loose in a couple of years.

Gun For Hire: The really bad guys know it. The gang-bangers know it. The cops know it. Judges and prosecutors know it. Everyone knows that if you want to hire someone for a hit, find a kid. They will happily take your money and a 15-year old kid will walk up and start shooting. If he can get away then he's simply earned the respect of his crew and has bragging rights. If he gets caught he will be released before the time he should have graduated high school. The day that kid turns 18 years old he's looking at 20 years in prison for the exact same crime. Tell me, what's the magical transformation that occurs on that kid's 18th birthday?

Exceptionally Bad Luck: The victim simply happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Armed robberies and violent crime are much less frequent in the "tourist" parts of town, and especially in areas like Via Veneto where there's a concentration of hotels and foreign visitors. The punks that decided to pull off this robbery were showing their dumb-streak with this plan, and if they had a few more years under their belts they would never have tried this. All of the older and more experienced delinquents know that their chances of getting caught in a gig like this are much higher, so they avoid the area. These guys were both stupid and unlucky. Expect the guy that's in custody to open up and have a serious conversation with his current hosts, and there's a 50/50 chance that he either gives up his partners in crime, or that solid police work will identify the other participants.

If You're Going to Get Shot Anyway... Then you might as well go down swinging. My hat's off to the victim in his case who made the personal decision to attack an armed robber who was holding a gun in his face. No one on the planet has the right to either question or second-guess his decision because he was the one looking down the barrel, his life was on the line, and he made the call. The effect of his action was to cause the weapon to come off of center line, and instead of taking a round to the chest he got shot in the upper leg. That might have saved his life.

Recovering I went to visit the victim because at that point the only thing I knew was that he was being called a "tourist" in the papers and I wanted to make sure he was not flying on his own without a local security net. But he has a network of local friends that are taking care of him and looking after his needs. He's still in the ICU but I understand he's recovering.

Not About the Robbery or Shooting: This robbery gone bad was on page four for one day, and the security videotape of the shooting ran on the news last night, but this story would be better placed in the Economy and Finance section. But then again think about it like this. If no one ever goes into the woods then no one will ever get bit by a snake. There are more and more foreigners coming to Panama and therefore the odds that they will be victims of crime, either targeted or incidental (as is this case) will rise. And crime and violence is becoming a domestic political problem for the Torrijos administration. While foreigners see that a US Citizen was shot, Panamanians see just one more event reflecting the impact of drugs, gangs, and poverty on the nation's youth. One of the primary responsibilities of government is to provide for the collective welfare and safety of citizens. The current government is not doing a very good job of controlling violent crime right now so you can could on either an (over) reaction or political backlash. Maybe the next president will be elected on an "anti-crime" platform. Hey, it worked for Rudy Giuliani.

The Politics of the Issue: Graciela Dixon recently said "double the judicial budget and you'll have better service." Politically deft, and absolutely true. Martin Torrijos could easily say "vote in favor of the Panama Canal expansion and we will use the profits for social programs." That's what they are planning to do anyway, and the roots of youth crime are in drugs, addiction, broken families, and poverty. The only real way to float Panama to a higher level and to raise the lowest common demonitator is through a combination of improvements to democracy, reductions to corruption and improved greater transparency, tighter central economic management and tax collection, and responsible social spending. If you can understand the politics and follow the money then you know what's going on in Panama.

(Addition: 2 September 2006 - After having interviewed the victim in this case I went back and removed references to his name to protect his privacy.)