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Too late, too clumsy CROSSROADS Jonathan De la Cruz 05/16/2012

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Too late, too clumsy

CROSSROADS
Jonathan De la Cruz
05/16/2012
Too late, too clumsy. This is all we can say about the actions of senior administration officials on two headline grabbing issues last week. In the case of the reported rape of a 19-year-old girl by a Panamanian Embassy official who is technically attached to the embassy not an organic staff being associated with the Panamanian Maritime Authority, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) declared him persona non-grata but only after he was allowed to go scot-free on a technicality.

At first blush, the DFA declared him “not covered by immunity” and thus liable to answer court summons under our laws saying that, as noted earlier, he was not part of the organic staff. A day or two later it reversed itself after consultations with the Department of Justice (DoJ) and, possibly, with the lawyers of the Panamanian Embassy, when the DoJ advised that based on its reading of the Vienna Convention and other relevant laws he is covered as reiterated by the embassy itself. Wow!.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120516com4.html

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