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C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 000074 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/24/2018 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KCRM PHUM EAID ECON PM
SUBJECT: PANAMA:  NEW SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE RECEIVES 
AMBASSASDOR 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William A. Eaton.  Reason:  1.4(d). 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. (SBU) Recognizing that Panama's judiciary has "a 
corruption problem" and believing that he has limited 
powers to sway the opinion of the court's other 
magistrates, newly installed Supreme Court President Harley 
Mitchell told Ambassador on January 14 that he planned to 
use his authority and bully pulpit to lay out a vision to 
make the justice system more open and transparent. 
Mitchell asserted that he was already implementing 
elements of his vision and testing his power by personally 
asking the magistrates to be more accountable and to report 
on cases that have been pending in their hands for long 
periods of time.  Where necessary, Mitchell said he 
intended to use the clout of public opinion to encourage 
fellow Supreme Court justices to render opinions on cases 
that have been pending for years. During the meeting, the 
Chief Justice identified structural weaknesses within the 
legal system. In response, he is taking a multi-faceted 
approach to improving the justice system.  Mitchell comes 
across as a man with a plan to shake up and improve 
operations within the Court.  Mitchell was elected in 2008 
with six "yes" votes and three abstentions from the nine 
members of the Supreme Court. End Summary. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Problems Throughout the Court System 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU) Mitchell jumped right into laying out his plans 
for his presidency.  Recognizing that the judiciary had a 
corruption problem, Mitchell identified several structural 
weaknesses, including: 
 
-- Offices that exist in name only:  Several offices and 
commissions that were on the court,s organizational chart 
had only minimal personnel and resources, Mitchell noted. 
For example, the Penitentiary Commission scheduled court 
appearances, but had only one staff person for the entire 
country, Mitchell explained, so work-arounds to schedule 
appearances were common. Concerned by allegations that 
certain judges always decided cases in favor of a 
particular group or individual, Mitchell said he asked his 
staff for statistics on the rulings of different judges, 
only to learn that the Office of Statistics only had three 
staff and did  not track this type of information. 
 
-- Minimal Personnel and Resources Attached to the Office 
of the Presidency: The President of the Supreme Court 
rotated yearly, Mitchell noted, and each magistrate was 
permanently assigned to a particular jurisdictional chamber 
(sala) (e.g., civil, criminal, constitutional) within the 
Supreme Court.  Previous presidents borrowed personnel from 
these chambers when they became Chief Justice.  Mitchell 
attributed the number of pending actions within his office, 
some dating back five years, to a lack of continuity and 
inadequate staffing. 
 
-- Unresolved court cases that date back many years: 
Mitchell said he had found a Supreme Court case that went 
back to 1981  -- 26 years -- without resolution. He 
personally intervened in the case, ruling in favor of an 
86-year woman who had lost an eye due to negligence at a 
Social Security Hospital. While this might be an extreme 
case, Mitchell said it was not uncommon for cases to remain 
in the Supreme Court for several years. 
 
-- An overwhelmed court system:  Mitchell said that he had 
recently visited a prison in Panama and spoke to a detainee 
who had been there for 54 months without charges. According 
to Mitchell, 51 percent of the people in jail were still 
waiting their trials. He noted that for homicide cases, the 
court system was so backlogged that if charges were filed 
now, trial dates were scheduled beginning in September 
¶2009. 
 
--------------------------- 
 
Mitchell,s Outreach Program 
--------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Since his election, Mitchell said he had placed 
great emphasis on meeting with representatives from 
different sectors, including:  the executive and judiciary, 
the private sector, NGOs, business associations, and labor. 
He said he had also met with members of the diplomatic and 
donor communities. He said that he wanted to learn first 
hand the issues and concerns that these various groups had 
concerning the justice sector. 
 
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Mitchell,s Plan 
--------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Mitchell said he was taking a multi-faceted 
approach to improving the justice system: 
 
-- Digitization:  Mitchell said he would spearhead efforts 
to digitize court documents, including those cases where 
rulings had already been handed down so that judges could 
readily refer to past cases. He said that digitizing cases 
at the Supreme Court level would allow justices to 
simultaneously review a particular case rather than have it 
move from one magistrate to another. 
 
-- Enhancing transparency by using the web:  Providing a 
web site where people could access a particular case to 
learn its status, which magistrate had it, and how long a 
magistrate has had it would enhance transparency, Mitchell 
asserted. Mitchell said this measure would serve as an 
incentive for judges to rule more quickly on a case. 
 
-- Lobbying for increased funding:  He said that he had 
already met with the Minister of Economy and Finance (MEF), 
who was supportive of his efforts to modernize the court 
system and expedite court cases and was generally receptive 
to an increased budget request. 
 
-- Lobbying the National Assembly:  Mitchell said he would 
lobby the legislature to change laws to improve the 
performance of the justice system. He said that he was not 
adverse to directly presenting proposed legislation to the 
National Assembly, something that previous presidents had 
seldom done but of which he intended to make more use. 
 
-- Securing International Assistance:  The Supreme Court 
President said he would seek international assistance from 
different countries and MDBs to help implement his plans, 
citing specifically the U.S., the EU, Spain, and Brazil. 
Ambassador offered to help coordinate/host some of these 
meetings, an offer for which Mitchell was appreciative. 
Ambassador said that as Mitchell's plans developed, the 
U.S. remained interested in assisting where it could and 
 
urged Mitchell to call on the U.S. as needs arose. 
 
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Comment 
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¶6. (C)  Supreme Court Justice Adan Arjona (protect) told DCM 
that soon after Mitchell took office, the Chief Justice 
organized a meeting with five other justices  (Esmeralda 
Troitino, Adan Arjona, Victor Benavides, Oyden Ortega, 
Jeronimo Mejia) to discuss corruption.   The three that were 
not invited included Anibal Salas, Alberto Cigaurrista, and 
Winston Spadafora.   Of these Cigaurrista has been linked to 
illegal activities, and Spadafora had his U.S. visa revoked 
for corruption in late 2005.   Arjona revealed that the six 
judges agreed to develop a list of corrupt judges and to work 
together to fire them.  If this report is truthful, the 
meeting would indicate that Mitchell is serious about reform 
and that he has the support he needs within the Supreme 
Court. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Mitchell laid out an ambitious vision that will 
require support from all sectors. While supportive now, 
stakeholders will ultimately be looking for results.  To 
implement his vision, Mitchell will need an operations 
group to oversee and implement the various aspects of his 
 
plan.  The ability to implement successfully what he has 
planned will define his effectiveness as Chief Justice. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Feedback that Post has received from people that 
have met with Mitchell has been uniformly positive. The 
Attorney General Ana Matilda Gomez noted recently that 
Mitchell's outreach had led to better coordination between 
her office and the court, something that she asserted had 
not taken place under the last president.  First VP and FM 
told Ambassador he was surprised and pleased by Mitchell,s 
invitation to discuss specific concerns about the judiciary 
that adversely affected foreign investment; "That never 
happened before."  American and Panamanian business leaders 
have also been favorably impressed by Mitchell,s stance on 
boosting the Court,s transparency and effectiveness. 
EATON