Bocas Unidos Foundation

You Shouldn’t Look A Gift Horse in the Bocas

November 18, 2007

By Don Winner for Panama-Guide.com - I’m starting a series of articles investigating land sales and disputes in Bocas del Toro. Now that Panama is firmly on the map of international investors every day there are important companies with millions of dollars in their pockets who would like to invest here. Much of that investment comes in the way of real estate and residential developments. But not just in Bocas, there are people pouring money in Boquete, the Costa Arriba of the Colon province, Veraguas and the Azuero Peninsula, as well as along the beaches and in the mountains. And in every one of these areas, developers and investors have to deal with local governmental officials.

Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. In fact, I really don’t even want to be the messenger in this one. There’s no way to talk about the ongoing land disputes in Bocas del Toro without doing some kind of harm to the real estate and tourism industry there. It would be nice if I could write an article praising the amazing efficiency and spotless transparency of local governmental officials in Bocas del Toro. Sadly, that does not appear to be the case.

Corregidores Are All Alike: A “corregidor” is a kind of local judge, best described as a kind of Justice of the Peace. A cross between a judge and police officer, they are appointed by the local mayor and answer to him or her. They are supposed to be in charge of settling low-level disputes, but they have the authority to level fines, and they can throw you in jail. They have the authority to summon the locally assigned units of the Panamanian National Police force, and use them to execute operations and to do things like evictions or legally authorized searches.

I’ll Be Talking About Them Often: In this series of articles I’ll be referring to the “corregidor” for this or that area often. In issues and disputes involving Rights of Possession (ROP) property, the “corregidor” gets involved at several points along the way, especially with regards to certifying ownership of a particular parcel of land, and to do things like verifying the signatures of land ownership. When you’re buying ROP land, you see, you need to obtain the signature and approval of the neighbors who are, in effect, agreeing that the person you are buying the land from is in fact the rightful owner.

Local Officials Holding the Gun: All across Panama local officials in little cinder-block buildings with no air conditioning are the ones holding the administrative power in their hands. With a stroke of a pen they can create (or dissolve) paperwork regarding ownership of property. If you have all of the right people lined up, the local Mayor, the “corregidor” (who works for the Mayor), and people like the local “catastro” (tax) office, then you can basically do whatever you want as long as they are all willing to go along. In order to break the tie you have to go to the Panamanian Supreme Court for a decision.

Bocas is a Friggin’ Mess: I’ve been hearing horror stories about land conflicts in the Bocas del Toro area for years now. My general impression is that the money came pouring in several years ago and that people have been taking advantage of the fact that Bocas is at the end of the food chain from an administrative point of view with regards to Panama City. You have to fly there in order to get anything done. Local officials are largely on permanent vacation (I tried to get an appointment with the Mayor of Bocas and was told that it’s impossible, by his assistant.) There are conflicting claims against land that people thought they had bought years ago. New money pouring into the region is encouraging land owners and (basically) squatters to create conflicts to try to squeeze some of that money out of the developers. And owners are pulling “dirty tricks” like accepting 90% of the payment for a land purchase, and then disappearing and using their children to reoccupy the land so that they can sell it again, to the highest bidder. Like I said, it’s a mess.

Lot’s Of Micro-Stories: There are large and overriding strategic themes of great import, but the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. One of my problems is that in every one of these conflicts there are two sides of the story, and I have to listen to everyone in order to accurately present what’s going on. If you only hear one side then they obviously skew and bias your (my) point of view. So, I’m now establishing the communications networks and channels that will allow me to ask the questions that need to be asked and follow up. Also, in every case, I’m not the decision maker or tie-breaker - there are judges to play that role. Mine is to simply learn about what’s going on, listen to all, tell the story, and watch it play out.

Teaser: Consider this to be the “teaser” article for a series. I’m still figuring out who’s who and what’s what, and don’t want to go off half-cocked. I’m going back up to Bocas next week, and will be meeting with people on all sides both there and in Panama City. I’ll be talking to government officials here in Panama City as well. When I do, they usually just put their head down on their desk and mutter “Bocas… what are we going to do about Bocas…” Hey, that was my question.