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DE RUEHZP #0793 2802122
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FM AMEMBASSY PANAMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2574
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 000793 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/06/2018 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PM
SUBJECT: PANAMA: A SPEED BUMP AT THE MFA 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Barbara J. Stephenson for 
reason 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
------ 
Summary 
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¶1.  (C)  Next week Vladimir Franco, Director General of Legal 
and Treaty Affairs in the Panamanian Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs (MFA), is scheduled to be in Washington to discuss 
the Perseus V case with U.S. officials.  This cable is meant 
to help Washington officials prepare for this visit, and to 
alert Washington to recent changes in the operating 
environment in the MFA.  In February of this year 1st VP and 
FM Samuel Lewis appointed Vladimir Franco to his present 
position, following the resignation of Iani Quadri, who had 
held the job since 1999.  In addition, Franco serves as one 
of five Directors General in the MFA, and is one of two who 
regularly replace the Vice Minister while FM Samuel Lewis 
travels, effectively sharing the number three slot in the 
Ministry.  This changing of the guard has had a profound 
impact on the Embassy's day-to-day interactions with the MFA. 
Franco's office is responsible for reviewing all legal 
issues, including all dip notes, Temporary Duty Notices 
(TDNs) that grant U.S. military personnel SOFA-like 
privileges, and everything relating to treaties, such as the 
Salas-Becker Agreement (SBA). He is also responsible for 
negotiations over the possible sale of the old Embassy 
building in downtown Panama City.  While the Embassy 
continues to enjoy an excellent working relationship with the 
MFA in general, Franco and his office are now approaching all 
these issues in a detailed and legalistic manner. 
Inconsistencies and mistakes which were resolved with a quick 
phone call under Quadri, such as mistaken language in a TDN 
dip note, now frequently lead to long delays, and eventually 
require intervention with Franco's superiors to resolve. 
While not all of these delays are directly attributable to 
Franco, he has shown no interest in being helpful in 
resolving issues, in stark contract to Quadri. Post also 
believes that Franco has leaked information on the Perseus V 
case, to assist lawyers for the sailors who are trying to 
overturn their convictions by arguing that their arrests 
violated the Salas-Becker Agreement.  Regarding the 
Salas-Becker Agreement, in a recent meeting with Brad 
Keiserman, NSC Director of Maritime Threat Reduction and 
Chief of the U.S. Coast Guard Operations Law Group, and 
EmbOffs, Franco referred to Panamanian lawyers, "who did not 
believe the Salas-Becker Agreement was legal, because it went 
far beyond the original agreement." It was clear to all 
present that Franco included himself in that group. 
 
¶2.  (C)  A member of the governing Revolutionary Democratic 
Party (PRD) and a civil servant at the MFA, Franco's 
grandfather founded the Communist Party in Panama, and Franco 
was educated in the former Soviet Union. He is also a member 
of the left-wing faction of the PRD. That said, his attitude 
toward the U.S. is less that of an anti-American ideologue, 
then of a Panamanian nationalist, suspicious of U.S. 
intentions, and annoyed at perceived U.S. prepotency.  Franco 
does not spout anti-American rhetoric, or bang his fist on 
the table. His weapon of choice is death by a thousand 
bureaucratic paper cuts. It is his failure to help resolve 
issues quickly which is proving move inconvenient than 
anything else. But he will also not let us get any fastballs 
by him. It should not be assumed that because we have a very 
close relationship with Panama, and especially with President 
Torrijos and FM Lewis, that the GOP will agree to anything 
the USG asks of them. Officials like Franco are distributed 
throughout the GOP, and slow down or block initiatives they 
do not like. 
 
¶3.  (C)  So why does Franco occupy the position he does? It 
is likely that in his present position, Franco provides a 
firewall for FM Lewis, protecting him from accusations from 
the PRD's nationalist wing that he is too close the U.S. 
Lewis has presidential ambitions for 2014, and cannot win 
without the acquiescence, at least, of the PRD's nationalists 
and leftists.  Franco serves as an early warning system, and 
slows the pace of things down so the MFA can examine the 
potential political consequences. In the current political 
environment, Post will have to take care that all USG 
requests going to the MFA are clean and unambiguous. This may 
end up being in the interests of both sides, but will require 
great care in the drafting of the many documents U.S. 
agencies prepare for the GOP on a regular basis. 
STEPHENSON