File No. 319.112 R 15/127.
The American Minister to the Secretary of State.
Panama, January 18, 1912.
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that a report recently reached me to the effect that certain of the police officers who were guilty of brutalities toward seamen of the U. S. S. Buffalo on the night of September 28, 1908, and who subsequently were dismissed on this account upon the demand of the American Government, had been reinstated in the Panaman police. I accordingly requested the Zone police authorities, if possible, to ascertain the truth of this report, and I am now informed by them that two of these men are members of the Panaman police. These are Paulino Macías, who was restored to the police some months ago as a policeman (No. 336), and Abelardo Bustos, who was restored to the police about two years ago (No. 162). Of the other three, two are in Panama and the third has not been located.
It will be remembered that the dismissal of these five men from the Panaman police was demanded by the Department as part of the settlement of the Buffalo case “for the reason that the investigations and reports made by representatives and officials of this [the American] Government clearly indicate that the police officers of Panama acted brutally and cruelly toward unarmed sailors wearing the uniform and entitled to the protection of the United States.” (Instruction 192 of July 13, 1909.2) This demand for their dismissal was communicated to the Panaman Government in Mr. Squiers’s note to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, No. 531, of July 31, 1909, a copy of which was enclosed in his despatch No. 531 of August 2, 1909,3 which also enclosed the reply dated July 31, 1909, of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, giving the text of the President’s decree commanding the chief of police to dismiss these men. Mr. [Page 1262] Weitzel’s despatch No. 536 of August 13, 1909,1 enclosed a copy of a further note from the Minister for Foreign Affairs dated August 6, 1909, giving the text of a note from the chief of police stating that three of these men, including the two now reinstated, Paulino Macias and Abelardo Bustos, had been dismissed and that the other two had not belonged to the police for more than six months.
If the information which has been furnished to me by the Zone police, and which was secured by the same detective who originally investigated this matter, is correct, Abelardo Bustos must have been reinstated soon after his dismissal and Paulino Macías must have been reinstated about two years later.
In this connection, I have the honor to refer to my despatch No. 50 of the 9th instant,1 in which I have mentioned the numerous changes which have been made in the Panaman police, especially during the last weeks, for political purposes. It is credibly reported that many of the new political appointees are men of very doubtful character, some of them, in fact, having extremely bad records.
I have [etc.]
January 20, 1912.
P. S.—I reopen my despatch to add that I have just been informed by the Zone police authorities that the former policeman, who, as stated therein, had not then been located, Sergeant Indalecio Franco, has now been found to be again serving in the Panaman police at Bocas del Toro as Policeman No. 669. This man is one of the two who was stated in the note of August 6, 1909, of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, enclosed in Mr. Weitzel’s despatch No. 536 of August 13, 1909, above referred to, not to have belonged to the Panaman police for more than six months.
The two men who have not been reinstated are former Lieutenant Emilio Lenares, who is a clerk in a hardware store in Panama, and Faustino Alvarado, who is a cab driver, also in Panama.
- For. Rel. 1909, pp. 472, 489.↩
- These numbers and dates are confused; see For. Rel. 1909, pp. 488–193.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Not printed.↩