Bagman

Have you ever worked for a company and a part of your job was to take cash in a briefcase to pay staff? And that staff is located in a country undergoing a revolution. Other duties I guess.

One program I managed was providing counseling services to military dependents overseas. In the late 80s, I was starting up two such programs in Europe and Panama. Talk about two different environments. And I am not talking just about the weather.

Over time, things deteriorated in Panama. Panamanians took to the streets to protest Manuel Noriega as president. These demonstrations took on two flavors. One was a group of peaceful demonstrators who would take to the streets and march holding white handkerchiefs. The other group was more violent who like to burn things.

A thing to note is that we stayed at the Marriott, and my Army client would drive to the Army Post. That meant driving through Panama City where the demonstrations were taking place. A sign at the gate would display the threat level.

On one occasion the threat level was high. My client argued we should take the long way through the jungle back to the Marriott. I said through town. I had already had one of my staff taken to the jungle and stripped, robbed, and left to find a way back to his apartment that was ransacked. Plus, I knew there was a train that went through the jungle where it would be stopped and passengers robbed, a la Butch Cassidy.

I won the debate, and through town we went. It was not long as we entered the city that we came up on the back end of the peaceful group. I told my client to take a right since I saw water and knew where we were. A block down we came upon the violent group. They had littered the street with burning tires and tree limbs. As he drove, my client was cursing me we took this route and not the jungle route. We were literally driving through black, choking smoke. But we made it.

Over time things got worse. Noriega froze money in the banks. My staff thought they were safe since they had opened accounts at the American Express Bank. They missed that it was the AMEX Bank of Panama. This meant they could not deposit and cash their paychecks.

To not leave them high and dry, I had to start carrying cash to my staff. That meant getting thousands of dollars in cash, putting it in my briefcase, and flying to Panama from D.C. every two weeks. That was bad enough, but the stress was added too by the fact that I had to either fly Pan Am or Eastern Airlines, both racing to see who could go out of business the quickest.

I am sure I was the only one flying money into Panama. Most of the drug money was going in the reverse direction. My heart was in my throat as I went through Immigration and Customs. I was not sure how I would explain the cash if I had to open my briefcase or explain to the company if the cash was confiscated.

Wednesdays, I would fly down. Thursdays, I would meet with and pay staff. Fridays, I would fly home. And on Mondays, I would get a call from the CIA asking about my trip!

Eventually, I got all my staff except one before the U.S. military invaded. This included getting their money out of locked savings accounts. I am still not certain how that happened.

The one left was a former Catholic Brother. I never figured him out either since he had a bunch of Joan Jett posters and other memorabilia signed by her. But I got him out shortly after the military came in.

From all of this, I took away one rule that I kept throughout my career: be visible and supportive to staff that you have overseas. If they are in danger, it is never too dangerous for management to show up. If you are afraid to go, then remove them from harm's way.

Pat