Panama Crime Concerns Business Leaders

During the first International Forum of Organized Crime and its Impact, Panama’s business community met to discuss rising concerns about rising crime rates in Panama.

The primary issue is the impact of higher insecurity rates on the economic competitiveness of Panama both in tourism and business.  Former prosecutor Rosendo Miranda said that organized crime seeks to penetrate different sectors, requiring counter strategies from society as a whole.

U.S. Ambassador to Panama, Barbara Stephenson, attended and qualified the rise of Panama’s crime rate as “dramatic” and “one of the main threats for Panama.”  She, like the U.S. State Department Report, attributes it to the increase in drug trafficking which travels through Panama and leaves death and corruption in its wake.

Statistics show an average of two crimes a day and an increase from 363 murders in 2006 to 808 in 2009.