The RatclifBlog has a post today about the Panamanian government's decision to block VoIP.  He postulates that

the government cannot tap VoIP calls as conveniently as those old circuit switched chats. As an indicator of the adoption of VoIP, this is significant. (see Panama cracks down on Net telephony.)

Interesting; I had not thought of that angle, and it isn't mentioned in the Reason link I noted earlier this week.  Apparently all of Panama's telephony is provided by Cable & Wireless Panama, a joint venture of C&W and the Panamanian government.  From the CNET article:

Cable & Wireless has fought VoIP providers in the past, winning a 1998 lawsuit against VoIP provider Net2Phone that banned Internet phone service in the Cayman Islands.

Cable & Wireless spokesman Peter Eustace said the recent Panama decision reflects the opinion of local phone regulators. "The decision by Panama telephone regulators is aimed at the unlawful offering of voice telephony services in Panama from unlicensed operators," he said, adding that the company offers VoIP services to corporations in countries where it is allowed.  [emphasis in italics mine]

Hehehe.  Interesting point there--if it is true that C&W has exclusive telephony rights in Panama (something I'm taking as fact from the CNET article as I certainly haven't researched this on my own), then "unlicensed operators" simply means anyone else.  Cute.