Drug Use By English Speaking Expats in Panama
(Panama-Guide.com ) - A kilo of cocaine in Panama costs about $1,500 wholesale. When you consider that in the United States the same kilo of cocaine will be sold on the street for about $100,000 total (retail), anyone with a serious liking for the nose candy who lives on a budget might find themselves attracted to Panama for reasons other than the nice beaches, warm weather, and lack of hurricanes. There are a lot of English speaking expatriates from the United States, Canada, and around the world who have moved to Panama and use drugs on a regular, daily basis. Consider the following: "Don, it's been a few years since I lived in Bocas. I will say that my best friend there told me about heroine being sold and used there before I ever moved from there. Daily I saw folks (gringos) walking down the street smoking ganga. Any, and every, drug was available any and all the time. Now, that is not to say that I don't agree that a little bit of ganga goes a long way, but to have those other hard drugs so readily available scared me alot. The drugs were cheap and easy to acquire. That was one of the reasons I decided to leave Bocas. I could see the crime raising, and the stoned folks weaving down the streets."
A Great Way To Get Killed: Every day in the papers I read about the 400+ murders that have occurred in Panama so far this year. A great many of those murders are in some way connected to drug use and trafficking. The street gangs fight between themselves for turf, markets, and control. These are the guys who generally traffic at the street level for local consumption. They are armed, dangerous, and extremely violent murderers. Higher level drug traffickers routinely kill one another over larger shipments of drugs destined to be shipped to international retail markets in the US and Europe. These attacks, called a tumba de drogas" locally, is basically one drug trafficker killing another to steal his drug shipment. And then of course there are the revenge killings, murders to shut people up who know too much, paybacks, and assassinations of people who have talked to the police, etc. There are a million ways to get killed by a drug trafficker.
Billions of Dollars At Play: A drug shipment worth a few million dollars is actually common, routine, and no big deal. All of those shipments of 500 kilos of cocaine or whatever add up to literally tons of cocaine worth billions of dollars on the street. The demand is huge, the profit margins incredible, and the people running the show are violent killers. So sure, why not come on down to Panama to score a little cheap blow. What's the worse that can happen? Besides going to prison, you can easily end up dead.
Traffickers in La Joya: The last time I went through La Joya with a writer who was researching for a book, we visited with the inmates in Pavilion 6 reserved for international (non Panamanian) inmates. There were a handful of Americans in there, practically all of them for drug trafficking. The stories were very similar - "How did those six kilos of cocaine get into my luggage? That's not mine!" Yeah, right. All of these guys thought they could get away with bringing a few kilos back in their luggage and get rich back home. Now they are cooling their heels in a Panamanian prison, but at least they're not dead.
Just Like That: It probably doesn't take much to get one of these local drug traffickers to pull the trigger. Hell, they do it all the time anyway, so why should they give a crap if it's a gringo in their sights. The Corregidor of Santa Ana is a friend of mine and he told me there's one 13 year old kid who already has seven murders to his credit. Sooner or later that kid will be a young adult, and if you're a newly arriving English speaking expatriate with a cocaine habit then there's a chance you might be scoring from that guy. Make the wrong move, do the wrong thing, say the wrong thing, and you could easily wind up dead.
Bocas Dipped in Coke: Apparently drug use in Bocas del Toro is rampant on the part of just about everyone. Marijuana is readily available and commonly used all the time and generally no one really seems to care very much. Cocaine and heroine are also readily available and there are, without a doubt, American expats who are residents in Bocas del Toro regularly and routinely using cocaine and marijuana. What's more, some of these people have direct and close ties to Kim Crofts who was recently murdered in Bocas del Toro. The people who killed Kim Crofts are reported to be the same guys who control part of the local drug trafficking on Isla Solarte. Therefore, there appears to be an increasing likelihood that the murder of Kim Crofts was in some way related to drugs.
Kim Crofts and Drugs: When I first touched on the possibility that the murder of Kim Crofts in Bocas del Toro might have in some way been related to drugs I received the following from a source who reportedly knew Kim when he lived in Hailey, Utah: "Please don't use my name or email address because I know Kim Crofts' wife and family. I knew Kim in Hailey. He dealt in drugs but I'm not sure if he used them or not. So I have a feeling he might have been doing something wrong, but these are just my thoughts. I think you are right on what you said, these other people either don't know or don't want to know the whole truth. Kim seemed like a good person when he was there in Hailey but..."
That's Three Elements: To wrap this up, here's what I have so far -
- Gringo Drug Use: The first is absolutely confirmed and an irrefutable fact - English speaking expatriates with very close ties to Kim Crofts are regularly and routinely using cocaine and marijuana in Bocas del Toro. These people have to be getting their drugs from somewhere, and maybe someone got pissed off for some reason. When I say very close ties to Kim Crofts, I'm not naming names for all of the obvious reasons but I do know exactly who I'm talking about. So do they, and they know I'm right.
- Drug Trafficking Shooters: Another relatively solid piece of information is that the five people who were supposedly responsible for the murder of Kim Crofts were involved in drug trafficking for local use in Bocas del Toro. So, if you have gringos doing drugs, they had to be getting it from somewhere. Maybe they were getting it from these guys.
- Historical Reference: I received the email with the reference to Kim Crofts' involvement with drugs while he was living in Hailey, Utah, on 24 September 2008. I decided not to use it at the time because I have no way to independently confirm what I was being told. Also, I have no way of knowing if the source of this information is being truthful or accurate, or for that matter if the source even exists. So, I consider this reference to be just an additional supplementary piece of information that adds to the overall scheme of things. Take it for what it's worth. But also consider this - someone out there was reading the articles I was publishing and apparently felt compelled to write and provide that little tidbit of information. If it's true, then it could be a very important indicator.
Information For The Greater Audience: Why am I still writing about the murder of Kim Crofts? What could I possibly garner from this article? Here's what matters, folks. Kim Crofts was killed for a reason. I've been asked to believe that his murder was the result of a robber that went bad. That story simply did not work for me from day one - my instincts told me that something else had happened. And now, with this additional information, it appears I was right. What's most important, and the reason I'm still talking about this, is to let everyone else know what happened and why Kim Crofts was killed. The obvious conclusion can be drawn - that Panama is still a relatively safe place, but you can make it much more dangerous depending on the actions you take and the decisions you make. I'm not blaming victims, but we all get from point A to point B thanks to an uninterrupted chain of decisions, each with their incumbent cause and effect. These killings affecting the English speaking expatriate community are scary, and it helps to know what happened and why. That way we can all take steps to improve our relative personal degrees of safety and security. But, "be careful who you buy your drugs from?" Never thought I'd be giving that piece of advice.
Was Kim Crofts Doing Drugs? I don't know. What I do know for a fact is that people very close to him were. I have no doubts about that, whatsoever.
There Will Be More: Of course there will be more information coming on the murder of Kim Crofts. I'll keep you informed as the situation continues to evolve and develop. At the very least when the killers go to trial then everything they have to say will become public record. It might take a few years, but I've got time... Once the trial is over I'll interview them in prison.
