Panama’s National Police have linked the fatal Aug. 25 shooting of a couple in a Villa Lucre commercial plaza to organized crime and illegal predatory lending operations known as “gota a gota.” National Police Director Jaime Fernández stated during a Sept. 1 briefing that investigators are reviewing surveillance footage and gathering evidence pointing toward gang involvement and these high-interest informal loan networks.
The Villa Lucre Shooting and Investigation
According to police records, armed individuals fired into a parked vehicle near a Metro station in San Miguelito around 5:00 p.m. on Aug. 25. The attack claimed three victims: 32-year-old Luis Enrique Bonilla Santo, who died at the scene; 37-year-old Julissa Esther Guerra Lorenzo, who was pregnant and died hours later at a hospital; and the unborn fetus. Fernández told journalists on Sept. 1 that investigators from the Police Directorate of Investigation are analyzing surrounding security cameras, stating that these operations launder money for criminal organizations and gangs.
Enforcement Actions and Regional Context
In a separate operation on Friday, the National Migration Service (SNM) captured a Colombian national in Chitré, Herrera province, during Operativo Perseus for conducting daily financing collections associated with gota a gota loans. According to an SNM statement, this lending activity violates the terms of the individual’s residency permit. Authorities transferred the detainee to the Men’s Administrative Migration Detention Center. While migration officials did not link the Chitré arrest to the Villa Lucre homicides, the timing highlights the expansion of shadow lending networks across Panama.
Investigative reporting by the Connectas journalism alliance traces the origin of the gota a gota model to Medellín, Colombia, in the late 1990s as a method to launder excess cash from drug trafficking. A study published in September 2025 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) office in Costa Rica describes the system as a decentralized illicit market featuring four distinct roles: capital owners, allocators, logistics networks, and collectors. The UNODC documented weekly or monthly interest rates reaching 20% in Costa Rica, far exceeding legal limits.
Legal Status of Usura and Extortion in Panama
Under Panamanian law, usura is not classified as a criminal offense. The current Penal Code, enacted via Law 14 of 2007, contains no provision penalizing high interest rates, leaving lenders free to set rates agreed upon with borrowers. This regulatory gap stems from Decree Law 9 of Feb. 26, 1998, which created the Superintendence of Banks and liberalized the financial market by removing statutory interest rate ceilings previously established under the 1982 Penal Code.
Because the loans themselves fall outside penal oversight, law enforcement targets the secondary crimes associated with defaults. Extortion carries a penalty of 5 to 10 years in prison under Article 151 of the Penal Code when collectors use threats, asset theft, or physical violence. Foreign lenders engaged in these practices also face administrative deportation and the revocation of residency permits, independent of criminal prosecutions.
Historical Precedents and Expansion
Panamanian authorities have previously targeted these underground financial rings. In May 2019, the National Police dismantled a gota a gota lending hub inside a residence in Brisas del Golf, San Miguelito, arresting 10 Colombian nationals. Officers confiscated 18 motorcycles, cash, computers, and ledger books containing client names, addresses, and account balances.
Regional mapping by Connectas shows that the lending scheme expanded from Colombia into Ecuador around 2010, subsequently spreading to Peru and then to at least 16 countries, including Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Honduras, and Bolivia. Former Police Commissioner Carlos Icaza noted in media interviews that local operators in Panama are now entering the market to launder illicit funds through daily collection routes targeting small merchants, lottery ticket vendors, and street hawkers, including in districts like La Chorrera.
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