Three tweets by US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley today:

1: U.S. looks forward to hosting World Press Freedom Day. We welcome the discussion about media in the 21st Century

2: No country believes in press freedom more than the United States. We practice what we preach. #WPFD

3: While Julian Assange places journalists in authoritarian societies at risk through the release of cables, we are protecting them.

I guess the anonymous administrator-who-can’t-answer-questions of the Press Freedom Day Facebook page passed the message on, upwards in the food chain?

Has Mr. Crowley been a journalist in an authoritarian country lately? Nope. But I am. I live and work in Panama, a place where journalists are routinely prosecuted, jailed and harassed for exercising the right to press freedom. Read Crowley’s own State Department country reports on Panama if you don’t believe me. Rule of law is a joke in Canal country, and I’ve been chased in cars, had gangsters show up at my house, my lawyer shot and there’s still a bunch of criminal defamation complaints against me from some Canadian and American fraud artists, Crowley’s fellow countrymen, waiting to be processed.

Do I feel threatened by Julian Assange, WikiLeaks, or any of the revelations they have done over the last year? Not at all.

I do feel threatened by the State Department, though. Let’s forget about WikiLeaks for a second and see what State does here, in Panama, for journalists.

They bribe them.

Couple of years ago, a Panamanian journalist with whom I collaborated every now and then told me that she had been invited to this meeting at the US embassy down here. Present were some high-up embassy people and a number of Panamanian journalists, from news outlets varying from La Prensa, Capital Financiero to El Siglo. The proposal: They would investigate and write stories about corruption, and the embassy would make sure that investigations were funded and the results published in major news outlets, of which the “US News & World Report” was specifically mentioned. However, the whole arrangement had to remain confidential, and the involvement of the embassy was not to be revealed.

My acquaintance was all excited about it, and asked me if I would be interested to join. I thought it was unethical, if not sleazy, and instead of joining I wrote about it. It turned into a bit of a scandal, interwoven with the usual cloak and dagger stuff that goes on here. Needless to say that the US embassy people were not amused to see their scheme leaked.

In fact, it was them who left me and others unprotected with their conspiring and corrupt schemes to buy themselves a group of journalists. And if you don’t believe me; maybe there’s something about it in the Panama cables – I hear they’ll be released soon by WikiLeaks.

So, Crowley, why don’t you #STFU?