PANAMA CITY – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has accused a Panamanian anti-narcotics prosecutor who was recently denied entry to the United States of leaking intelligence to drug traffickers.
The allegations are contained in a report that the DEA sent July 21 to the office of the Panamanian Attorney General to explain why prosecutor Aminta Corro was not allowed to enter the country earlier this month, top anti-drug prosecutor Jose Abel Almengor said.
In the report, “accusations are made against Corro related to some degree of obstruction of investigations into drug-trafficking activities and the leaking of intelligence,” Almengor said.
The Attorney General’s Office has asked the DEA to clarify in which specific cases this alleged collaboration occurred, he said. Corro, an anti-drug prosecutor in Colón province and the Kuna Yala Indian reserve, both in Panama’s Caribbean region, was denied entry July 3 at Miami’s international airport when she arrived to visit family members.
The prosecutor chose not to appeal the decision and returned to Panama. Panamanian Attorney General Ana Matilde Gómez said her office has begun a criminal investigation of Corro in response to the DEA report.
Corro, for her part, said that “far from being in drug trafficking, I fight it.” She said this was the first time she had been accused of wrongdoing in 21 years of service “with an impeccable record.”
