Roberto N. Múndez
PANAMA — Panama's government announced on December 24 that it has reached an "agreement in principle" with the United States regarding the presence of US military bases in Panama beyond the year 2000.
The government has agreed to hand over to the US Howard Air Force base, Rodman Naval Station, a chunk of the Corozal base and a portion of Sherman base, on the Atlantic side.
The land and installations comprised in those bases have a commercial value of over US$2 billion. They also encompass almost half of lands and buildings which should be handed back to Panama as a result of implementation of the 1977 canal treaties.
However, the Panamanian government is ready to give the bases to the US free of charge for 12 years, a term which could be extended indefinitely.
News reports add that the government is to grant "a personal status, similar to that granted to officials of international institutions" to the 2000 US soldiers who would occupy the bases. In the words of foreign minister Ricardo Arias, such a status "guarantees a certain degree of immunity over demands presented against them in Panama".
Panama's government and the US military and industrial oligarchy attempt to disguise bases as "anti-drug centres". The purpose of this psychological sleight of hand is to get Panamanians to think that by allowing the bases to stay they are backing the fight against illegal drugs produced in South America.
However, news reports state that these bases' purpose is not only to fight drug traffickers, but also to counter "international terrorism" and "illegal weapons traffic". This disguise is ever more transparent.
With the timing of the announcement, the government is attempting to take advantage of the fact that the schools and National University are closed. It has also devoted a lot of effort to "neutralising" opposition political parties, and to harassing and threatening nationalist groups that oppose the agreement, such as Panama's Front for Sovereignty and the Organisations against Military Bases.
The government, in alliance with US intelligence agencies, has also provoked violent incidents in the border province of Darien as a scare tactic.
[Roberto N. Múndez is a member of Panama's Nationalist Forum and director of Information Centre Panama — Onwards to the Year 2000 (CIP 2000).]