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Arcenio Bacorizo, an Emberá cacique and co-founder of the indigenous community of Arimae, located in Darién province near the Colombian border, was finally released on February 24 after more than three years in jail. Bacorizo was originally jailed along with two co-defendants, charged with the 1995 murder of Colombian drug dealer Franklin Bailarin. The prosecution's evidence apparently consisted of "local cops' belief that nothing of this sort would have happened in Arimae without Bacorizo's orders," according to The Panama News, as well as some circumstantial evidence linking one of the co-defendants to the stabbing.

The three were acquitted of the first charge by a jury on February 7, but prosecutors immediately brought new charges against Bacorizo to keep him in jail. These charges held Bacorizo responsible for events that occurred in 1993-- although he was in Panama City at the time-- when settlers moved onto land the Arimae community had cleared for agriculture, and Arimae youth responded to the invasion by burning down the settlers' building. These charges employed a legal category left over from the dictatorship, called a "collective accusation" (denuncia colectiva), which denies the accused the right to a jury trial.

On February 24, the remaining charges were dismissed, and Bacorizo returned to his village to help supervise community projects which have been underway for several years. While he says community organizations -- such as Arimae's agricultural organization and the Arts Foundation for the Emberá-Wounaan Culture -- are stronger since his imprisonment, other projects, such as a cultural center and a proposed Emberá "mythological park," have suffered in his absence.

Meanwhile, lawyers for the indigenous Dobbo Yala Foundation are preparing to go to trial to defend Arimae against continued incursions by settlers, who have already grabbed most of the community's land. The "Legalization of Emberá- Waunaan Collective Lands" project began on January 1, 1998, to legalize lands held by these indigenous communities that are outside of the comarcas -- or reservations -- defined by the Panamanian government in the mid-1980s.

In the 1980s, the Noriega regime gave titles to settlers for land already held by the Emberá- Wounaan community of Arimae in titles from the 1970s. These settlers in addition often received financing from Panama's Agricultural Development Bank. Bacorizo's sons, Yuri and Alci, are among those who have taken up leadership in this case since his incarceration.

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