1. (C) Next week, Vladimir Franco, Director General of Legal and Contractual Affairs at the Panamanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (AMF), will be in Washington to discuss the Perseus V case with US officials. The cable is intended to help Washington officials prepare for the visit and draw Washington`s attention to recent changes in the AMF`s operating environment. Last February, the 1st Vice President and FM appointed Samuel Lewis Vladimir Franco to his current position after the reimbursement of Iani Quadri, who had held this position since 1999. In addition, Franco is one of five directors general of the AMF and one of two to regularly replace the deputy minister, while fm Samuel Lewis travels and effectively shares third place in the ministry. This changing of the guard had a profound impact on the daily interactions of the message with the AMF. Franco`s office is responsible for reviewing all legal matters, including all dip notes, temporary temporary notices (TDNs) that grant the U.S. military similar sofa privileges, and anything related to contracts such as the Salas-Becker Agreement (SBA). He is also responsible for negotiations on the possible sale of the former embassy building in downtown Panama City. While the message continues to enjoy an excellent working relationship with the AMF in general, Franco and his office now address all these issues in a detailed and legalistic manner. Inconsistencies and errors that have been corrected by a short phone call under Quadri, such as for example. B false language in a TDN-Dip note, now often lead to long delays and ultimately require intervention with Franco`s superiors to resolve them. Although not all of these delays were directly attributable to Franco, he showed no interest in helping to solve the problems, in the brutal treaty with Quadri.

Post also believes that Franco leaked information about the Perseus V case to help lawyers for sailors who are trying to overturn their convictions by arguing that their arrests violated the Salas-Becker agreement. Regarding the Salas-Becker agreement, Franco referred to Panamanian lawyers “who did not believe the Salas-Becker agreement was legal because it went far beyond the original agreement,” during a recent meeting with Brad Keiserman, NSC director for maritime threat reduction and head of the U.S. Coast Guard Operations Law Group. Everyone present knew that Franco was interfering in this group. 2. (C) As a member of the ruling Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD) and an AMF official, Franco`s grandfather founded the Communist Party in Panama and Franco was trained in the former Soviet Union. He is also a member of the left-wing PRD group. That is, his attitude towards the United States. less that of an anti-American ideologue than that of a Panamanian nationalist, is suspicious of the intentions of the United States and is upset by the perceived prepotence of the United States.

Franco does not spit out anti-American rhetoric or punch the table. His weapon of choice is death by a thousand bureaucratic paper cuts. It`s his inability to solve problems quickly, which turns out to be uncomfortable than anything else. But he won`t let us make fastball balls. We should not expect the GOP, because we have very close relations with Panama, and in particular with President Torrijos and FM Lewis, to agree with everything that the USG asks of them. Officials like Franco are spread across the GOP and slow down or block initiatives they don`t like. Acotó que tales atribuciones dadas a Estados Unidos en el acuerdo son “inaceptables y jurídicamente inadmisibles por ser inconstitucional”. .