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...given the record of rightwing use of gangs, thugs, criminal networks and hit squads, to eliminate or threaten troublesome people--in Colombia, Honduras and other places--and given the corporate/war profiteer stakes in Panama, as well as the connections between Panama and Colombia as to the Bush/Uribe criminal enterprise in Colombia, I would have to know a lot of more about this victim to feel assured that this was not a "warning" of some kind. I would also like to know how close a shave it was for the Israeli diplomat (intent of the attackers?).
Some of the context: There is evidence of Israeli involvement in Colombia, at the height of the spying/death squad activity of the Uribe government. There is what may be an unrelated connection to Israel, in that the U.S., in protecting Uribe and "laundering" his image, among other things appointed Uribe to a prestigious international legal commission--the one investigating Israel's firing on an aid ship. Martinelly and Uribe are close buds. It was Martinelly who granted instant asylum to the chief spying witness against Uribe--Uribe's former spy chief Maria Hurtado--when she fled Colombia to Panama. There is now an Interpol warrant out against her, requested by Colombian prosecutors. I don't think that that asylum (in Panama, granted by Martinelly) could have occurred without U.S. help. One other thing--there is a curious Wikileaks revelation to the effect that Martinelly demanded the U.S. ambassador's help in spying on his political opponents in Panama--and I would guess that he got the idea from Uribe, because he knew that the U.S. (Bush Junta) was supplying Uribe with such "help"--i.e., the U.S. government was involved in the huge illegal domestic spying scandal that has unfolded in Colombia. And there is evidence that what the spying was used for was to draw up "hit lists" of people to be murdered or threatened with murder by Uribe-connected death squads. (The victims included many trade unionists and other advocates of the poor--who were murdered--and judges and prosecutors, who received death threats and whose actions were being monitored, providing Uribe with the ability to anticipate their investigations and prosecutions; this latter spying function may well have been what led to the U.S. ambassador to Colombia and Uribe conspiring to remove death squads witnesses to the U.S. federal prison system, out of the reach of Colombian prosecutors and over their objections.)
All of this (and more) leads me to NOT just dismiss this incident as random street crime. A diplomat by the very nature of his job--and certainly an Israeli diplomat, with Israel's very close connection and interweaving with all aspects of the U.S. war machine--would LIKELY know things that are dangerous to know. This is inherent in any diplomat's job, but i would think that it is a particular hazard for all high level U.S. government personnel, and those of its allies, and those of Israel in particular.
The diplomat is still alive and was not greatly harmed, apparently, so it remains a possibility that, if he suspects that the attack wasn't random, the reason for the attack could conceivably become known--although there are a lot of reasons why he or others might suppress such information.
Anyway, like I said, it APPEARS to be random--but it would not surprise me to find out that it wasn't.
(In addition to the "street crime" hits that are occurring against leftists and journalists in Honduras, I am reminded of the as yet unsolved John Wheeler murder case--a very high level Pentagon consultant (top secret clearance; Air Force, drone aircraft)--whose murder appears to have been made to look like a street crime. Re: was this attack on the Israeli diplomat a failed hit?)
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