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Assets Not So Safe in Panama – There is a way to
get a court order in Panama from a Panama Court to garnish, lien or
levy a Panama Bank account. If you do not know where the persons bank
is you can have the court send a Fax to all the banks in Panama asking
them to seize, lien, levy any bank account associated with the name of
the person as a beneficiary owner or signatory. This is called a
sequestro.
Will this include foundation or corporate
accounts too? It might, depends on the case and the court. The
plaintiff will have to post a 10% to 15% deposit on the amount to be
attached. If the defendant prevails in court this deposit can go to the
defendant. It may also take months or years to get your money back.
This could destroy your business and your personal finances and even
bankrupt you all based on just allegations.
Civil Law Suit Games in Panama
– If you are in a civil fight in Panama the adversary can post a bond
of say 10% to 15% of the cash value of an asset and have it seized.
This is called an embargo. It goes to storage until the case is decided
in court. Time frame is usually three years or longer. This has been
used to take the personal contents out of a persons home including the
beds, furniture, TV, computers, linen, towels, dishes, firearms,
jewelry etc. There are no exempt items except medicine and some
necessary medical equipment as a possible exemption.
So
think if they take all your furniture, refrigerator, clothes, beds etc
and also lien your bank accounts what are you going to do? They could
also garnish a car or a boat this way and put it into storage. What a
nice court system. Asset protection in Panama has a lot of problems. If
you do not live or operate a business in Panama the risks are lower but
still there.
Preventive Detention – If you
are charged with a crime in Panama you can be arrested and held in
preventive detention until the trial, figure three years. If you are a
foreigner unlikely to return if allowed to leave, you will not be able
to post a bond. Having a pensionado or residency status does not mean
you are not foreigner. A Panamanian citizen is not a foreigner, and
pensionado or residency status is a foreigner.
If you are
a Panamanian with roots and family in Panama you can generally post a
bond to avoid preventive detention if in fact they even get to
considering preventive detention. It is guilty until proven innocent.
Preventive detention has better conditions than regular jail but it is
still jail. They do not give you health care coverage in jail. Think
about your health if your money runs out and you are still in jail.
Search Warrants
– The police in Panama do not need a search warrant for any reason to
search anything. This can include your home, your person, your car,
your vault box, your business etc. Ok if you trust the government, I
guess.
Crime of Passion – If you catch your
spouse with another person being intimate you can kill one or both of
them as a crime of passion and not be prosecuted. The crime must happen
as soon as you catch them. You cannot like go to a friend's house, get
a gun and return in that this would be premeditative. You could do this
with a girlfriend or boyfriend but could be more risky than with a
spouse. So you can get away with murder in Panama.
Gun Rights
– You can get permission to own and or carry a gun in Panama as a
permanent resident or pensionado. It takes most people three years to
get a permanent residency so what do you do for the year years. Panama
has a high crime rate. To get a gun you need to supply DNA from blood.
Then the gun goes in for ballistic sampling. Process can take several
months. Who do they share your DNA with? There have been some close
calls regarding people losing many of their gun rights. Something that
can happen at any time completely or in a diminishing capacity.
Panama Residencies
– Panama has no clear or easy path to citizenship. The law reads that
after one has a permanent residency for five years they can apply for
citizenship. On average this is granted to about 2 ½ people a year. It
usually takes 2-3 years to get permanent residency. Your residency card
cannot be used to open bank accounts; they still want your passport
from the home country. These residencies are treated as long-term visas
in reality. If the conditions used to obtain the residency change your
residency can be cancelled even though they call it a permanent
residency do not be so sure about it. If you marry a Panamanian you get
a "permanent" residency but if you divorce you lose your residency
status.
Other countries treat permanent residents almost
like a citizen without voting rights. Not Panama. You will need your
passport from the home country for everything legal like opening bank
accounts, signing leases, buying a house, writing a check, buying a
car, boat, etc. Your residency or pensionado card is not considered to
be a valid ID by most. Panama has the absolute hardest and tightest
immigration laws anywhere in Central or South America. Every country
has a direct real path to citizenship but Panama.
Crime in Panama
– Panama used to be a safe country. This changed by 2008. It is not a
safe country anymore. You hear of ATM robberies, kidnappings, home
invasions, burglaries, and street crime. You wake up in the morning and
read all about the drug busts, which seem to be never ending. Then you
read of people caught at the airport with a few million dollars in the
luggage, undeclared of course. The drug traffickers kill each other
with regularity. They are found dead in their palatial condos with a
bullet in the head. They get shot in the street.
Once on
via Espana near the big church in 2008 across the street from the
Crowne Plaza there was a typical drug execution. A drug type walked out
to his car and two guys came up on a motorcycle and sprayed about forty
rounds at him in broad daylight. Bullets hit the buildings. Women
standing there were traumatized as they saw the body dancing from the
impact of the bullets. The shooters then drove away on the motorcycle
blowing kisses at the crowd like an opera singer. They were never
caught, as far as I know.
There were several different
drug related shootings in front of a big El Cangrejo hotel in a period
of two or three months. People get home invaded in private homes and
sometimes in new condos with security. Suspects are usually the
security guards. They tie the people up, beat them, force them to open
safes, rape is optional. Women are afraid to go to the malls due to
people jumping in the car with them and doing who knows what. Panama
crime is now up there with any third world country.
Street Beggars
– They are there and lots of them. They can get aggressive, hang on
cars windows, if they get their hand in the car try to force window
down, try to clean your windshield. They will be more aggressive with a
foreigner trying to get more of a handout from a foreigner.
Police in Panama
– Well they are present. You will soon be annoyed at their roadblocks.
They look in car and check papers. It soon becomes a real pain. They go
to restaurant and tourist districts at night and check people's papers.
Used to be a foreigner could stay in Panama for years with an expired
visa, now off to immigration jail. Fines and then you leave. If they
see a crime being committed they will engage the perpetrators. They
will not turn a blind eye. If they do not see the crime being committed
it is a safe bet they will never catch anyone.
Their
investigative resources leave a lot to be desired and they move slowly.
They do not have sophisticated labs or crime scene analysis. If you are
experiencing a break in and call, well I think one way or the other it
will be over before they arrive, if they ever arrive. Forget calling if
you do not speak Spanish. Always make sure you know who you are opening
the door for even in a condo with security. They corrupt someone's maid
to buzz them into a building and then try to get into several homes.
Homes invasions are traumatizing to say the least. Make sure your maid
does not set you up by leaving the back door open, losing her key etc.
Fire Department
– Their fire department has no equipment to do anything about a fire in
a big high rise. They may be able to get up maybe 15 or 18 floors but
higher than that you better have your own way out. They are not going
to come in and get you if you are up 35 floors. What if you are 50
floors up?
Ambulance – If you are not a
citizen you are not entitled to use their ambulances. Take a cab, drive
yourself or walk. If you happen to be bleeding out try direct pressure.
If you cannot walk not sure what to tell you. You could get a private
ambulance service, not cheap and you pay by the month not by the call.
Hospitals
– They probably are not going to take your health care insurance if
from a foreign country. You may be able to get reimbursed but it
probably will not work for payment to the health care provider. If you
go to the ER to see a doctor you pay before you go in for the ER visit.
Then the doctor evaluates you and orders tests etc and then you pay a
second time. Same thing if you are there with two broken legs. No
credit card or cash, no treatment. They do not have to take you in. If
you are a citizen then you go to a public hospital for free. Please
note all the funeral parlors and hearses across the street from the
public hospitals.
Real Estate Crash –
Panama real estate used to have stable prices, say in 2005 and before.
In 2006 they started to creep up. Prime real estate was $1000 a sq
meter. In 2008 at peak same real estate was selling for $3500 to $4000
a meter. They started to build a massive amount of condos. The thought
was they could get prices up to $8000 a sq. meter or even $10,000. This
didn't work.
Did they do anything wrong? You bet. They over
built. Many of the projects failed and are little more than holes in
the ground now never to be completed. Many projects cancelled. The
gov't also saw fit to tighten up the immigration laws making the
already bad laws even worse. Of course this encouraged the real estate
crash. It is felt the next round of price drops will be severe. When it
is over real estate will return to $1000 a sq. meter or perhaps lower.
Panama has bad weather. Hot and humid nine months a year. The traffic
is so bad it land locked. Parking is getting worse.
The
rainy season is seven months. There is a lot of water to look at in
Panama City but it is polluted and you cannot swim in it. There is no
useable beach in Panama City. Electric bills in the wealthy
neighborhoods run about 10 times higher than where the poor folks live.
Expect high utility bills. There used to be good views from the condos.
Now you are going to see the neighboring buildings and watch them look
into your condo. Also the people on the floors above you can see into
your condo. No privacy. Leave your windows open a few hours a day and
then you get to clean the black soot off of the floors.
Maids –
A large amount of the maids are dishonest. They steal. They steal bulk
foods, makeup, clothes, jewelry, lots of things. There is a maid
shortage so their wages are up high. They get one-month vacation after
11 months of work. Nice. They get about 18 or 19 holidays in addition
each year. When was the last time you had six or seven weeks paid
vacation a year. Does this tell you why there is almost no
manufacturing in Panama? They get sick days. If you fire them or they
quit, expect it to cost you some money. They almost automatically take
you to the labor department. You will lose; only thing you can do is
control damages.
You need to take the employment agreement
to them for approval when hiring. When you fire them, you go back to
labor board and get them to approve settlement pay. Guaranteed to make
you pull your hair out. Many phone rooms came to panama and got busted
out by the insane socialist labor laws. The owners get sick and tired
of getting dragged to the labor board by bad and dishonest workers.
Maids will rob from you and then take you to the labor board. Report
this police. Do not go to labor board hearing. Tell labor board police
are looking for the maid and to call them if she shows up, and they
will.
Gringo Pricing – If you are obviously
not a local they will raise prices on you. If you speak Spanish this
will not help. If you use your driver or other person to help you they
will tell the store they want 10% or they will tell their client to
shop elsewhere. Panama has been dealing with foreigners since 1913 and
they are extremely good at fleecing them. Panamanians have an unspoken
code and stick together against foreigners, always. They are never
really your friends, you just think they are.
Drug Use in Panama
– Drugs are there and maybe 1/10 the price in North America and EU.
They have drug tourists who come there, rent a house, buy bulk
quantities of drugs and then invite their friends down for extended
drug binges. They are in Bocas del Toro and other places. They risk big
jail sentences but since they are just users they will probably just
get thrown out of country after they say where they got the drugs.
Prostitutes
- Prostitution is a legal activity in Panama. You will see prostitutes
on the streets. You will see mens clubs and so forth. If you are a
married couple make sure the wife knows about this before coming.
Outside Panama City – This is full blown third world. Only the city is modern.
Summary –
Panama used to be safe, no more. Panama used to be cheap, no more.
Panama used to have easy immigration, no more. Panama used to leave
people alone and let them do what they want especially in business, no
more. Labor used to be cheap in Panama, no more. There are a lot of
central and South American Countries where you can do better.
Gun Rights
– You can get permission to own and or carry a gun in Panama as a
permanent resident or pensionado. It takes most people three years to
get a permanent residency so what do you do for the year years. Panama
has a high crime rate. To get a gun you need to supply DNA from blood.
Then the gun goes in for ballistic sampling. Process can take several
months. Who do they share your DNA with? There have been some close
calls regarding people losing many of their gun rights. Something that
can happen at any time completely or in a diminishing capacity.
-Aurelia Masterson, http://www.panamalaw.org
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