Panama: Panama City, the Canal, and the real stakes
Panama Mystery: A Family Vanishes, and Nobody Seems to Care
Okay, let's get this straight. A Canadian dude, Ghussan Iqbal, his two-year-old daughter, Nousaybah, and seven-month-old son, Musa, go missing in Panama back in May. Six months later, one kid's dead – found in a river – and the other two are still MIA. And the official response? A collective shrug, basically.
The Disappearance: A "Ran Away" Theory?
The family's saying the Canadian government is useless, and Panama's moving at a snail's pace. "No sense of urgency," they say. No kidding. You'd think a missing kid would light a fire under someone's ass, but apparently not.
Then there's the wife's story. She supposedly told the family that Ghussan "ran away" with the kids. Ran away? Into the Panamanian jungle? With a baby and a toddler? Give me a break. That's like saying Bigfoot moonlights as a tax accountant.
And it gets weirder. The family says the wife has multiple identities, lied about her background, and her story keeps changing. Red flags all over the damn place. They were even warned by Panama police not to trust Ghussan’s wife’s family.
Seriously, what's going on here? It’s like a bad detective novel.
They are saying he had mental health issues, but his brother talked to him days before and everything seemed normal. Two days later, poof, gone. No surveillance footage of him leaving with the kids, mind you. They just “disappeared off the face of the earth.” The family can’t imagine him navigating the “mountainous, treacherous jungle terrain” with two kids.
The brother and his wife went down to Panama to help search. Stayed for three weeks. Hired a lawyer. Came back with "no real answers." Sulman said, "Nothing was adding up to us then and it’s still not adding up. … Literally any theory is possible at this point. We have no idea what happened, no proper leads."
Bureaucracy and Broken Promises
Global Affairs Canada (GAC) issued a statement saying the safety and security of Canadians abroad is a “top priority.” Oh, really? Because it sounds like they're about as helpful as a screen door on a submarine. The family can only communicate with them through email, and it takes days to get a response. "It’s honestly very scary knowing that as a Canadian citizen you’re basically out of luck if something happens to you abroad," Sulman said.
I mean, let's be real, is anyone surprised? Government bureaucracy is a black hole where good intentions go to die. You could probably train a team of sloths to be more responsive.
And the Panamanian authorities? Apparently, they're dealing with violent pension reform protests in Bocas del Toro, where the family went missing. I'm sure that's a priority, but come on, a missing kid should still be front and center.
The Cobre Panama mine has been shut down since November 2023. And Panama just got a visit from some lawmakers from Taiwan, despite China trying to block it. Good for them.
The Unanswered Questions
It all boils down to this: a family is torn apart, a child is dead, and another is missing. And all we get are vague statements, bureaucratic delays, and a "ran away" theory that insults everyone's intelligence.
What really happened to Ghussan Iqbal and his daughter, Nousaybah? Was it foul play? Was it a mental health crisis? And why isn't anyone screaming from the rooftops about this?
The family’s carrying guilt, wondering if they could have done more to keep Ghussan and the kids in Canada. He moved to Panama about a year ago with his wife, who's from there. According to a CTV News report, the family of the Ontario man has "no idea" what happened to their loved ones after they went missing in Panama six months ago.
Then again, maybe I'm expecting too much. Maybe this is just how the world works. People disappear, governments stall, and families are left to pick up the pieces. It's messed up, offcourse.