Panama Ratifies MLAT as Prospects for International Criminal Assistance Between the U.S. and Panama Brighten

On July 15, the Panamanian Legislative Assembly, meeting in special sessions, overwhelmingly approved without any modification the proposed Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty signed on April 11, 1991 with the U.S. Because of the importance of Panama for drug money-laundering, the difficulty over the law frew years of U.S.-Panamanian international judicial assistance, and the implications for other similarly situated jurisdictions, the ratification debate has significance.