Nicaragua, Rio Coco navigation conditions during food transportation op.

In this brief post I would like to share this interesting video prepared by UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Nicaragua to promote their humanitarian activities.
I was in Nicaragua (post dated Sept. 2nd 2009) in February 2008, conducting a Security Risk Assessment for WFP. Part of my job was assessing the navigation conditions, providing recommendations according with the Minimum Operating Standard Security (MOSS) adopted generally by the UN. The difficult part was connected with the applicability of the MOSS to rented vessels, not UN property. I could not force the owners of the boats to buy and install all the prescribed safety features (fire extinguishers, GPS, life vests, HF radio etc). Yes one could argue that the Organization could choose a different provider with better equipped vessels. Well, in these areas often there is only one provider, the boats are very basic and navigation can be dangerous. The high quantity of floating debris is another element to be considered while planning the operation. Said that, the staff adopt a security posture and bring own equipment (where possible) in order to mitigate the risk.
In this video the boat (Hercules) has been purchased by WFP and it was properly equipped. It seems to be too heavy and large to be able to reach the remote areas in the Rio Coco region, while it could be useful in the sea or segments of river wide and deep. Hercules have been replaced eventually with smaller and more efficient boats. These new boats comply with the safety rules. During emergencies, by the way, it could be possible that rented vessels can be used due to the dimension of the operation.
Very interesting the food cross loading operation. The community who is helping transporting the food from one point to another of the river is not the final beneficiary. Communities help themselves.
My navigation experience on Rio Coco, one entire day, was conducted on board of a rented smaller boat maneuvered by two very skilled local operators. The food delivery was successful. I am sure my visit helped to increase the navigation safety and security awareness among staff and local boat providers and I believe better safety features have been then adopted.

Panama - Security concerns related to Canal ops and Darien Province

I conducted my RSA in Panama in March 2009 in Panama City and surrounding areas.
Panama has a developing economy. Outside the Panama City area, which has many first-class hotels and restaurants, tourist facilities vary in quality. The U.S. dollar is the paper currency of Panama, and is also referred to as the Panama balboa. Panama mints its own coinage.
The current security situation in Panama presents no indications that social unrest will rise to a level that would affect its economy. Nevertheless it is advisable to monitor constantly the general security conditions in order to assess any sign that of possible instability/threat to the actual tranquil situation, as outlined below.
All areas of the country outside of the capital are considered low risk with the exception of the southern province of Darien. Darien should not be considered a high risk area but must be kept under control due to the remoteness of the area, the lack of infrastructure and communications, and the sporadic incursion into the area of illegal armed groups from neighboring Colombia. A natural forest covers the border between Colombia and Panama and there are no entry access points between the countries.

Safety and Security – Darien Province:
This area encompasses the Darien National Park as well as privately owned nature reserves and tourist resorts. It has been reported by the local law enforcement agencies that foreign nationals and Panamanian citizens have been the victims of violent crime, kidnapping and murder in this general area. Reliable communications and medical infrastructure are not readily available in the region, which makes travel therein potentially hazardous. Moreover, all around the Panama-Colombia border area the presence of Colombian terrorist groups, drug traffickers and other criminals is common, increasing the danger to travelers. There is increasing evidence that the Revolutionary Armed Forced of Colombia (FARC), a designated foreign terrorist organization, has increased its operations in Panama’s Darien Province, including in areas far removed from the immediate vicinity of Panamanian-Colombian border. UNDSS advises that the risk of UN Staff members facing dangerous situations due to the sporadic presence of illegal armed groups from Colombia can be defined as “low”. The lack of an established communication system across the region can be mitigated through satellite phones.

SECURITY SITUATION - THREAT ANALYSIS
Economic:
Panama has an economy that has been shaped around the US Dollar. It is efficient and it is based on a number of well established business and commercial activities related mostly with the service sector. This large economic sector represents the 75% of the total GDP and includes the management of the Panama Canal, banking, the Colon free trade zone, insurance, container ports, flagship registry and tourism.
The unemployment level is about 8% and reflects the large oversupply of unskilled labor.
The factor that must be taken seriously into consideration in this analysis is the enormous disparity in the distribution of wealth. In fact 35% of the population lives in poverty and could trigger a higher level of crime and social unrest.

Natural Disaster:
The typical natural disaster which affect the Central America and Caribbean region, earthquakes, flooding and hurricanes do not have a significant impact on Panama.

Social:
Some ethnic groups in Panama can be identified as disadvantaged to others. This phenomenon does not express itself through violence acts or civil disobedience. There is a very high degree of religious tolerance between religious groups.

Crime:
Crime in Panama City is moderate but increasing, particularly because of the activities of youth gangs. The city of Colon is a high crime area. Police checkpoints have become commonplace on weekends on roads in both cities. Based upon reported incidents by local police, the high-crime areas around Panama City are San Miguelito, Rio Abajo, El Chorrillo, Ancon, Curundu, Veracruz Beach, Panama Viejo, and the Madden Dam overlook. Crimes there are typical of those that plague metropolitan areas and range from rapes to armed robberies, muggings, purse-snatchings, "express kidnappings" from ATM banking facilities, in which the victim is briefly kidnapped and robbed after withdrawing cash from an ATM, and petty theft. There have been several targeted kidnappings, including in Panama City.
Several Security Advisors mention that in Panama does not exist the so called organized crime, as the dramatic phenomenon affecting other countries of the region (El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, etc). Neither exist Panamian drug cartels. An interesting trend that should be closely monitored is that of the juvenile gangs. It is growing but cannot be compared with most famous criminal gangs “Maras” existing in Salvador or Guatemala.
The police are fighting local crime with the little means available and the scarceness of resources allocated to internal security. The number of police patrols are insufficient above all in the Canal area, which is a vital asset for the country and yet vulnerable.
The official crime statistics released for the year 2008 report that the number of homicides was 27% higher than 2007 and 49% higher than 2004. The robberies increased 43% in one year.
Panama is used by the Colombian drug traffickers as a land corridor to smuggle cocaine towards the Mexican-US border. This situation brought to Panama some money laundering center intended to clean narcotic revenue.

Police – Security Forces:
Panama does not have its own Army, Navy and Air Force. Law enforcement and the control of public order is the responsibility of the Panamian National Police (PNP). The PNP are the subject of frequent allegations of corruption. PNP is limited by a chronic lack of resources.

Panama Canal:
The canal area can be considered vulnerable. In fact an attack could be carried out through a ship carrying huge quantity of toxic chemicals or other dangerous materials. If the vessel would explode while crossing the Canal, either due to a terrorist attack or an accident, the consequences are difficult to predict.

Author visiting the Miraflores Lock at Panama Canal


OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Although there are currently no indications that social unrest will rise, it is necessary to monitor the following potentially dangerous situations which could, under specific conditions, influence economy and life in Panama.
· Increased incidence of illegal demonstrations.
· Growing incidence of clashes between social and ethnic organizations of government security forces
· Increasing unrest in the provinces, especially in the Darien, has been observed.

MEDICAL CARE AVAILABLE AND CASEVAC PLAN
Although Panama City has some very good hospitals and clinics, medical facilities outside of the capital are limited. When making a decision regarding health insurance, Americans should consider that many foreign doctors and hospitals require payment in cash prior to providing service.

CONCLUSION
The security situation in Panama is generally good but several factors can potentially affect stability and security. The Darien Province is the most concern area in the country. Police should increase the number of its members and improve its specialized unit dealing with drug trafficking and smuggling across the border with Colombia.
Money laundering is another factor that has to be assessed in depth since it seems that part of the hidden economy circulating in Panama City is coming from illicit activities abroad.
The Canal security is finally the strategic key to the success of the Panamian financial system. The Canal brings to the State economy between 5 and 10M USD per day. An attack on the Canal could affect not only internal but the international stability and repercussion on global economy could be dramatic.

Puerto Cabezas (Nicaragua). Challenging security conditions.

After a pause due to family reasons, here I am again describing one of most challenging field location evaluated in Nicaragua, Puerto Cabezas (including the attached area of Bilwi). This post mentions my navigation experience intended to assess security conditions of crew, staff and assets transported by boat.
In fact, the great majority of every day Organization's activities took place by boat (Rio Coco and Caribbean Sea). The article focuses as well about the importance of satellite phones as one of the most reliable - thus not totally secure - communication means.

Puerto Cabezas is a small port area located on the north east Atlantic / Caribbean coastline, at about 560 km northeast of Managua. There are approximately 27,000 inhabitants of Bilwi. In the municipality of Puerto Cabezas there are 51 Miskito (indigenous) communities which combine with Bilwi's population for a total of 51,000 inhabitants. The city is surrounded by several rivers and lagoons. The official languages of the region are Spanish, Miskitu, Sumo, and English. Spanish is predominately spoken however there is a very large segment of the population who speak Miskito. In all communities, Miskito is by far the predominant language. During the two days trip spent in the Puerto Cabezas area, one entire day has been dedicated to the river route along Coco River. This mission has been conducted to assess the condition of navigation and the quality of boats rented by the Organization. The itinerary travelled was Waspam – Sih Ba by boat (8 hour navigation time). In the above picture, Rio Coco and local communities.

Author visiting the Sih Ba Miskito community, reachable only by boat



The threat:
The main threat in the region is related to the moderate concentration of common criminals while the Mara (gangs) phenomenon is less evident in Puerto Cabezas than in the inner areas. The operations conducted by boat present a high risk due to the river conditions and the large quantity of obstacles and debris floating in the river.
The threat level in and around the Puerto Cabezas is assessed as follows:

Road Safety:
The conditions of the roads to reach the communities around the Puerto Cabezas town, up to Waspan (along Coco River) and in the inner region are very poor, not paved but kept in decent conditions. Due to the scarcity of vehicles, the risk of accidents by road travel is assessed as low.

Communications:
Communications in such complex geographical environment are essential. The four means of communications (MOSS compliant) that must be installed and functional are:

• VHF radio set
• HF radio set
• cellular phone (ideally with different SIM cards in order to maximize the use of the coverage)
• satellite phone

In this particular case a fifth communication means was deemed necessary in order to coordinate field work with local communities and improve the emergency respond. In fact, the great majority of the Miskito communities, assisted by the Organization, were using an HF “radio amateur” set which was working with different frequencies. In this case it would be useful to have a proper radio or, infringing the internal rules and agreement with government which assigned to the Organization dedicated frequencies (not recommended), change frequencies on the HF Codan radio apparatus supplied. Such measure can be considered as “preventive” since can be implemented in case of emergency to share security information gained on the ground.

SAT telephones:
There are several models of sat phones available with different features but some older models, even if technically better built, cannot be suitable for the complex environment like the one analyzed here.
In particular the sat phone evaluated in this office location was a Nera model. The Nera sat phone functions well in some circumstances (mainly as a static fixed point communicator). There are however several significant operational problems with its use in the field. It is of the type with a “laptop” type antenna which requires to be pointed directly at the satellite it is trying to communicate with. Any deviation from this line of contact will terminate the communications. This makes it difficult to use on the move. The system is not quick or easy to set up and would be difficult to use in an emergency. The system is not discreet and has caused problems in the past when used in front of naturally suspicious rebels or armed groups at checkpoints. In some cases the groups do not know what it is and this can lead to increased tension. I indeed recommend:
· the use of satellite phone system with a hand held satellite phone for the reasons outlined above. Iridium now has such a product available.
· Every field location should have at least a ready-to-use sat phone handy (SIM card must be placed properly, contract should not be expired, sat must be charged and charger (home/car adaptor) should be always carried with the phone.
· Phones must be transported in proper water-proof bags suitable for boat operations and emergencies.

In the next post I will write about security while operating boats. Puerto Cabezas (Nicaragua) along with Quidbo (Colombia) and Puerto Lempira (Honduras) are all locations which I assessed and currently use boats to carry out their daily duties. So that it is important to understand the security rules and the technical features of the vessels prior any navigation.

NERA Satellite phone with lap top style anntenna. Not recommended for at-risk environment.

Iridium 9555, very efficient sat phone and descreet desing.

Nicaragua, general security situation and (brief) threat analysis

I conducted the security risk assessment in Nicaragua in February 2008. I inspected the Country Office in Managua as well as all field offices and logistic facilities of a worldwide International Organization (Corinto, Puerto Cabezas, Ocotal, Matagalpa, Siuna). A one day boat trip along the Coco River (Waspam) has been conducted in order to verify the navigation security conditions of staff during implementation of field operations in the Northern areas of the country.
The picture shows (me next to) a gigantic Govt propaganda poster of President Daniel Ortega praising his Populist/Socialist political message in favour of the masses.
Nicaragua, as seen in its regional context, is one of the less dangerous countries compared with its neighbours El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Police coverage is extremely sparse outside of major urban areas, particularly in Nicaragua’s Atlantic coast. Sporadic incidents of highway banditry happen frequently in remote rural areas of north and northwest Nicaragua. In order to reduce the threat of being involved in such criminal event it is recommendable to travel between 6.00 AM and 6.00 PM. Political demonstrations and strikes occur sporadically, are usually limited to urban areas, and occasionally become violent. In the Puerto Cabezas area recently a public protest against local government (Alcaldia) took place. Stones have been launched but the police was able to keep the protest under control.Regarding major organized criminal activities it should be noted that narcotics traffickers often use the Caribbean and Pacific coastal waters. The new luxury houses located in very isolated places show that there is an increment of drug traffic between Colombia and Mexico/US affecting those countries in between.Assaults and armed attacks have been registered in isolated areas, mainly along the route Managua – Puerto Cabezas where overcrowded buses are stopped and travellers robbed.
THREAT ANALYSIS
The greatest area of concern of the internal security is related with several illicit activities conducted by both common and organized criminality. Violent crime in Managua and other cities is increasing, and street crimes are frequent. Pick pocketing and occasional armed robberies occur on crowded buses, at bus stops and in open markets, particularly the large Mercado Oriental, and less frequently at the Huembes market. Gang activity is rising in Managua, though not at levels found in neighbouring Central American countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, etc). Gang violence, including robbery, assault and stabbing, is most frequently encountered in poorer neighbourhoods, including the Ticabus area, but has occurred in the neighbourhoods surrounding major hotels, bus terminals and open-air markets.Street crime and petty theft are a common problem in Puerto Cabezas, along both the Nicaraguan Caribbean coast and route Managua – Puerto Cabezas. Lack of adequate police coverage has resulted in these areas being used by drug traffickers and other criminal elements. Taxi drivers and passengers have been victims of robbery, assault, sexual assault, and even murder. It is advisable, before taking a taxi, to be sure that the cab has a red license plate and that the number is clearly legible. The taxi must be properly labelled with the cooperative (company) name and logo. While riding in a vehicle, windows should be closed, car doors locked and valuables placed out of sight.Crimes of opportunity such as car theft, abduction and muggings are ever present. In essence, the high level of criminality has little or no authority and no recourse to Police action in the rural areas is a serious threat to all visitors to, and agencies in, Nicaragua. As mentioned above, almost in all towns (mainly in the centers) the legality and police enforcement have not been fully restored.
Force Majeure:
Hurricanes present a constant threat to Nicaragua during the rainy season which has seen a penetration within the Caribbean Coast in the Puerto Cabezas area. Nicaragua is subject to Earthquakes as well. The last quake in 1972 has partially destroyed Managua. Since the capital lies in the proximity of the S. Andrea fault the exposition at tremors and earthquakes is relevant.

In the next posts I will analyze some interesting aspects of the difficulties encountered by staff deployed in different field locations. Puerto Cabezas represents the most challenging field site for its exposure to hurricanes and its geographic complexity (located on the shores of Rio Coco, facing the Caribbean Sea).