Authorities From The Netherlands Didn't Help In Serial Killer Case - At All
By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com This morning I met with Panama's Deputy Attorney General Angel Calderon to get an update on the "Wild Bill" and Jane Cortez case. Panamanian authorities have formally requested the extradition of this pair from Nicaragua. As of yesterday afternoon Nicaraguan military forces had moved them to the town of El Castillo, Nicaragua, located just to three miles as the bird flies from the Costa Rican border, but more than 60 miles by boat down the San Juan river to the Northwest from where they were captured. They spent the night in a Nicaraguan jail cell in that small little border town, and today the Nicaraguan authorities will probably continue to move them towards the capital of Managua. Sooner or later "Wild Bill" and Jane Cortez will be extradited from Nicaragua to Panama, flown from Managua to the Tocumen International Airport in Panama City, where they will be handed over in the "Mother of All Perp Walks." I expect the Nicaraguan authorities will be milking this for all it's worth, and of course they deserve it and they should be proud of having caught these two, after they spent about a month running around Costa Rica. Notice they were in handcuffs literally within minutes of hitting Nicaraguan territory, while the Costa Ricans apparently couldn't find their ass with both hands and a map. That's an update, but this story is supposed to be about how the Panamanian authorities tried to get help from the Netherlands while they were searching for this pair of serial killers, and they got no help at all. (more)
"It's Supposed To Be Reciprocal" Deputy Attorney General Angel Calderon was clearly upset and disappointed with his efforts to obtain information, assistance, and support from the Netherlands in this case. The Dutch have a Consulate in Panama City and a full blown embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica. I called these guys myself last week, and I'm still waiting for a call-back which never came. The Panamanian authorities had copies of passports that were supposedly valid for both "Wild Bill" and Jane Cortez, which had been issued by the Dutch embassy in Costa Rica. Even if the passports were fakes or forgeries, the officials from the Netherlands could have provided some information to the Panamanian investigators to help. They could have confirmed that in fact the passports are fakes. They could have confirmed that the passport numbers or identities were apparently held by other people - which were then stolen by the "new" William and Jane Cortez. However, they only had questions and they wanted all of the information to flow in one direction only - from the Panamanians to the Dutch. They never answered a single question, not one. Calderon said "information should flow both ways, but that's not what they wanted to do. Now that these two have been arrested the authorities from the Netherlands are asking questions." Clearly, he expects there to be a more open and bidirectional exchange of information on the case and the suspects. I think the Dutch are embarrassed by the fact that apparently anyone with money can easily obtain a bogus passport from the Netherlands - which these serial killers used to go on their multinational crime spree.
Copyright 2010 by Don Winner for Panama-Guide.com. Go ahead and use whatever you like as long as you credit the source. Salud.
