-Caveat Lector-
Copyright 1999 InterPress Service, all rights reserved.
Worldwide distribution via the APC networks.
*** 03-Dec-99 ***
Title: POLITICS-PANAMA: Distrust Mounts against US-Advised Security Plan
By David Carrasco
PANAMA CITY, Dec 3 (IPS) - Political, trade union and student
leaders demand an end to United States military presence in
Panama, taking to the streets to protest a government security
plan that calls for air, sea and land surveillance over the
nation.
Members of the National Association of United Trade Unions
marched to the Presidential Residence Thursday night to demand an
end to the security negotiations Panama has entered with the
United States.
Sa�l M�ndez, defence secretary of the Construction and Allied
Industries Union, declared outside the residence that the workers
will not tolerate foreign military bases in Panama.
The protest was launched after Winston Spadafora, minister of
Governance and Justice, provided the press with a document that
defines security objectives for border regions as well as areas
adjacent to the Panama Canal.
Spadafora maintained that ''there is nothing secret'' being
discussed with Washington and rejected the criticism of opposition
groups who believe the Strategic Plan for National Security hides
an attempt to set up military bases controlled by the United
States.
But the minister acknowledged that the project was drafted with
input from military attach�s from the United States, Colombia,
France, Great Britain, Israel, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.
A U.S. embassy report warns that Panama lacks the ability to
control its airspace and maritime territory, and that border
security is limited. The document suggests that the 13,500-member
public security force should be ''re-militarised,'' as the nation
has not had an army since it was disbanded in 1991.
The document given to the press indicates that the United States
will engage in a new type of relationship with Panama from Dec 31,
1999 through October 2000. The following six years will be a
critical period, says the report.
At the end of this year, in accordance with the 1977 Panama Canal
Treaties, signed by Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos and U.S.
president James Carter, the United States is to relinquish all
control over the canal area.
Joao Secsodi, U.S. embassy spokesman in Panama, confirmed the
report's authenticity, though denied its validity, saying it
involves material for internal use that is now outdated.
Parliamentarian Miguel Bush, of the opposition Democratic
Revolutionary Party (PRD), told IPS that the security plan
corresponds to U.S. desires to set up an electronic surveillance
system, which requires the use of airports for take-off and
landing of large aircraft, like the Galaxy and Awacs.
''Honduras and Panama are the countries in the region that have
the landing conditions for these huge aircraft, which are used in
espionage in the war against drug-trafficking,'' affirmed Bush.
The legislator asserted that his government's decision to discuss
its national security plan with the United States is
''unacceptable.''
Bush pointed out that the United States wants to establish an
operations centre in Panama for strategic reasons, including the
fight against drug-trafficking and joint operations with the
Colombian army.
Retired general Rub�n Paredes, who led the now-dismantled Defence
Forces of Panama, affirmed that the plan released by the
government is a ''smoke screen to gain time'' for negotiating a
long-term agreement that ensures U.S. military presence in Panama.
Paredes said he had reached this conclusion observing the haste
of the United States and Panama in preparing the project.
The government's general budget for 2000 did not include a
heading for the security operations that will be housed at the
former U.S. bases in the canal area.
Spadafora responded that the Canal Authority of Panama will
earmark part of its resources to fund public forces that will be
entrusted with canal security.
The canal defence complex will use fibre-optic, cable and radar
communications to link six key locations included in the security
plan.
Among the key sites is the former Corozal air base, on the
western (Caribbean) end of the canal, where the communications
''nervous system'' will be located, and will be under the
authority of the Institutional Protection Service.
A second key area is the underground tunnel through Cerro Anc�n,
a hill that is a national Panamanian symbol, where a centre for
managing canal information will be installed.
A third site is the United States' former Rodman base, on the
Pacific, which will be entrusted with sea patrols. Officials at
the locations will co-ordinate actions with the operations at Fort
Davis, on the Caribbean coast, where a rapid deployment force will
be based.
According to minister Spadafora, the plan will reduce foreign
threats against Panama, including its border areas with Colombia
and Costa Rica.
Police authorities reported Tuesday that there had been powerful
explosions near the Colombian border, but no known injuries. The
area suffers cross-border incursions by Colombian guerrillas and
paramilitary groups engaged in armed conflict.
Representative H�ctor Alem n, also of the PRD, charged that
information on the border situation is being manipulated so that
the Panamanian public will accept the strategic plan he says comes
from the U.S. State Department.
In November, the PRD released an alleged memorandum of
understanding between Panama and the United States, which called
for gathering and exchanging information and maritime
intelligence, but was rejected by the government in the middle of
negotiations in Washington.
Canal administrator Alberto Alem n believes U.S. support would be
useful for the exchange of security information.
But colonel Daniel Delgado, one of the officers who resisted the
U.S. invasion in 1989, said the security plan creates uncertainty
and confusion because it excludes the police from the canal area.
Trade union and student representatives warned they would
continue their protests against any agreement that extends the
presence of foreign troops in Panama beyond Dec 31, 1999.
(END/IPS/tra-so/dc/ff/ld/99)
Origin: Montevideo/POLITICS-PANAMA/
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