I think your first mistake was walking away from the bags without knowing 1) if there was problem and 2) making sure they would go on the belt. If this guy called over a security agent, was it for you or something else? Never walk away from the your bags "assuming" everything is ok. Make sure they're tagged correctly and placed on the belt.
Obviously you know your second biggest mistake, and this also goes in two parts. You placed expensive items inside your check luggage, which we all know the airlines (all of them) will claim no responsibility if your stuff is lost. The second part of this is that you assume it was the airlines, but between the airlines, maybe that secuirty agent whose ear was whispered to, customs agents, and TSA, any one of these parties could have a hand in the taking of your things. and with politics as they are down there, there is no one to cry to because they defend their own down there. Theft is rampant in latin america airports, the people that live there know this and try their best not pack items that may get "lost" along the way. I learned this from when I first traveled to Mexico. And since then, whenever i go down there, I never pack expensive items.
I don't know how often you travel to latin america, but the biggest tip is never travel and check expensive things (the perfume i know you had no choice), even the panamanians (???) know this. But on this trip you made many assumptions and got burned. The airlines are not gonna accept responsibility in this, so may wanna chalk this one up as a lesson learned.
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