I'm Not Covering Land Disputes in Bocas Del Toro Anymore

By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com - This morning someone came to me with "yet another" land dispute in Bocas del Toro. Of course the details change with regards to the actual parcels of land involved, the people and players in the drama, and exactly how it all came about. However the overall story from a strategic point of view will not have changed one bit. There are currently dozens if not hundreds of ongoing legal battles over both Rights of Possession (ROP) and titled land in Bocas del Toro. Low level governmental authorities are corrupt, they have been corrupt for decades, and they probably always will be corrupt. These people and the governmental offices they represent can generate (bogus) paper and documents for money. Unscrupulous people can then use those documents to take over land. Sometimes people buy things they think are solid and legitimate based on the documents they have in their hands, and later they are surprised to find out the documents were somehow faked or forged. I know of one case where the gringos then tried to sell their problems to someone else - even though they were fully aware of the problems with their land and title - in order to pass the load of crap they had purchased to someone else (i.e. - commit and act of fraud.)

That's The Landscape: In the middle of all of this the legal fight ensures. The famously corrupt lawyers in Bocas del Toro get involved, and they get rich. In some cases the lawyers actually create the disputes, pitting one land owner against another behind the scenes, just so they can get involved in the battle in order to get paid. The central government has not done anything to sort the mess out. The executive branch can only do so much because eventually the cases wind up in the justice system. And you really can't get any actual justice until the case gets appealed to the Superior or Supreme Court.

You Would Have To Be Nuts: My standing advice to anyone who is considering investing in land in Bocas del Toro is "run like hell." There are dozens and dozens of horror stories, and I simply don't want to hear them anymore. Let me know when there's a final court decision and I'll report on that. But the details of the day-to-day legal slug-fest of who screwed whom with what bogus document - there's no "headline" there. It's an old story, so rather than news it's "olds" and therefore = boring and uninteresting. Bocas is a pretty place, and it's just too bad everyone who lives there has to constantly fear some dude with a fat checkbook and a willingness to pay bribes might come to try to take it all away someday, knowing the legal system (such as it is) would probably let it happen. Scary shit. And even if you have never had a problem yet, you still might have one tomorrow. Wake me up when it's fixed. In the meantime - invest your money wisely - like "I'd like to buy two starfishes, please..." Good call.

Copyright 2011 by Don Winner for Panama-Guide.com. Go ahead and use whatever you like as long as you credit the source. Salud.