Only North Americans can of course come up with an idea to give military aid to a country that has no military.

Or hasn't it? Reuters' Andrew Beatty reports that Panama is to deploy a Special Force on the Colombian border which, we read, is going to "combat the flow of cocaine and weapons and to catch leftist guerrillas along its jungle border with Colombia (...)".

Oh?

Had Beatty done research in the Dariën instead of copying what our crooked government tells him, he would have realized how totally idiotic this story really is. Every other year or so the creation of new and better border patrol forces is announced by whomever holds the Ministry of Government & Justice at that moment, in conjunction with assistance from the United States. But if you try a quick tour of the Dariën you'll notice that that border is impossible to control - something most members of the border forces du jour will tell you privately as well.

Beatty also says that the "new" border force will catch leftist guerrillas. Will they leave the paramilitaries alone then? Again, had he gone to the Dariën instead of penning down this ridiculous spin, he'd have heard that many an attack there that was attributed to the FARC had, in fact, been carried out by Uribe's right-wing paramilitary forces. But maybe Beatty also believes that other fairy tale, the one about how the paramilitaries have been disarmed and no longer exist.

Where do stories like these come from? Easy. The gringos want a base in Panama to help the narco-president of Colombia and screw Chavez and Correa as they're getting their asses kicked out of Ecuador. This will of course be called an "anti-terrorist" initiative and wrapped in endless drivel about "regional cooperation" and "relations with our allies" and all the other usual pretexts to do the wrong thing.

We said it here before, Panama is at war. But we're not alone any more. Eisenmann says the same in Friday's la Prensa. After years of praise for the new democratic and civil values of the PRD, he is now slowly discovering that a gorilla stays a gorilla even if you dress him in suit and tie.

How did the war start? Easy. Anyone can do it. You go in a canoe to the Dariën, fire some shots, and the whole country will go berserk, or at least the gorillas. They send more gorillas to the border. They start buying more guns and bullets. And of course the gringos can't wait to send more war toys and experts. Eisenmann fears they want to create a new dictatorship. We think the US has its own plans for a new Gran Colombia.

Says Daniel Delgado Diamante, Comandante Minister of Government and Justice: The FARC statement threatening that the captured guerrillos should be released or else, is false. So he doesn't want to comment. And that they say there is an agreement to "live and let live" with the FARC in Panama is not true either.

Is he speaking the truth? After the Chavez/payments screw-up, who knows?

Let's put it this way: Why is the FARC in Panama - they have a camp near the border in the Dariën - basically left alone if there is no silent agreement? And if the FARC communique is false and not important, why was an internet café in La Chorrera raided the other day from where the statement was reportedly distributed?