Yaviza Wanted Poster

Someday, maybe, I'll write about a journey I took in 2010 by piragua, up a winding jungle river, to a remote Indian village in the Darien Province of Panama. For now, I'll simply write about this wanted poster nailed to a tree in the small town of Yaviza, on the banks of the Rio Chucunaque, where the river journey began. One can drive from Alaska to Panama and the road ends at Yaviza. Panama has not continued the road to Colombia largely due to the activity of Colombian FARC guerrillas. The guerrillas operate across the border (from Yaviza, about twenty-five miles) and sometimes they seek safety within Panama. The Panamanian government is stepping up their operations against these incursions, hence the reward offered in the poster.

In October 2010, a few months after I took the photo, the Colombian military attacked a FARC camp near the Panama border, and killed five guerrillas, including Gilberto Torres, shown at left in the photo.