From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: PANAMA: MURDER OF JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 1992 09:23:06 GMT

/** reg.panama: 26.0 **/
** Topic: IPS: Murder of Businessman **
** Written  1:42 pm  Mar 31, 1992 by hrcoord in cdp:reg.panama **
From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: IPS: Murder of Businessman

/* Written  7:55 pm  Mar 30, 1992 by newsdesk in
cdp:ips.englibrary */ Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all
rights reserved.  Permission to re- print within 7 days of
original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: PANAMA: MURDER OF JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN ROCKS BILATERAL
LINKS

panama city, mar 27 (ips) -- the kidnapping and murder of japanese
businessman takashi ota, top executive in panama of the 'citizen'
watch manufacturing company, whose disfigured body was identified
thursday evening, has rocked bilateral relations.

ota's body had been in the morgue of the town of chepo, 57
kilometres north-east of the capital, for almost a week before it
had been identified.

police investigations indicate he was kidnapped in panama city
mar. 14, and the unknown assailants had demanded and obtained
750,000 dollars for his liberation but murdered him just the
same.

japanese ambassador yori sugiyama held a meeting with panamanian
foreign minister julio linares and discussed the ota case, but
both refused to make any statement to the press.

visibly angry, sugiyama walked out of the foreign ministry
building and brushed aside waiting japanese journalists who had
travelled to panama all the way from tokyo to check the ota murder
case.

panama's deputy foreign minister raul mulino predicted that
bilateral relations would not be affected, but news media reports
suggest the japanese government has been upset by the way the
panamanian police have handled the case.

the police, on the other hand, are criticizing the japanese
embassy's delay in advising them that ota had been kidnapped.
this delay, police said, had prevented a swift pursuit of the
kidnappers.

the coroner's report on the murder indicates that ota was
strangled almost immediately after being kidnapped, and this would
suggest that he was dead when the kidnappers received the ransom
paid by the 'citizen' company.

the attorney-general, rogelio cruz, said friday that one theory
being checked by police is that ota was murdered by one of the
colombian drug organizations which operate in panama.

the crime rate in panama city--particularly bank robberies, other
holdups and murders--has increased sharply since the u.s.
invasion on dec. 20, 1989, and the disbandment of the panamanian
defense force (pdf). (more/ips)

panama: murder (2)

the pdf, which included both police and military units, was
replaced by the public force (fp) in the first weeks of the
administration of president guillermo eandara, who was sworn in
shortly after the commencement of the u.s. invasion.

but the fp's commanders have been replaced at least five times in
the past two years, because of alleged disloyalty to endara, and
its effectiveness in the anti-crime campaign has declined.

endara announced thursday night that he will reconstitute the
'rapid reaction detachment' of the former pdf--a commando-trained
unit employed to combat terrorist activities and other major
crimes. (ends/ips/tr/np/ot/oc/cs/it)
** End of text from cdp:reg.panama **

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