Word: canals
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Even when the House of Representatives voted against extending aid to the contras on Feb. 3, attention was focused on the indictment of Panama's Manuel Antonio Noriega on drug-related charges. The Canal makes Panama intrinsically more important than Nicaragua to American interests. Yet there too Washington has been embarrassed by its past policies: until evidence of Noriega's drug trafficking became too serious to ignore, the general had been a valued CIA asset. Last week the Administration continued to squeeze Panama's economy in an effort to oust Noriega, who hung on precariously despite widespread strikes, rioting...
...hardship worsened, Noriega's backers lashed out at Washington. Noting that American forces were staging exercises along the Panama Canal, Foreign Minister Jorge Abadia Arias charged that the U.S. planned to invade the country. The U.S. Southern Command, which has 10,000 troops stationed along the waterway, called the maneuvers routine...
...stroke of noon on Dec. 31, 1999, the U.S. is scheduled to turn over the Panama Canal to Panama forever. When the treaty transferring the waterway was signed in 1977, it was widely denounced in both countries: many Panamanians complained about the protracted timetable, while many Americans, including Ronald Reagan, insisted that the canal should remain in U.S. hands. Today the treaty is again a source of controversy. An embattled General Manuel Antonio Noriega is trying to rally his countrymen by claiming that Washington wants to break the agreement. Meanwhile, some legislators on Capitol Hill are asking whether...
Though much of the treaty is sloppily worded, it is unambiguous on one point: the U.S. has no legal option but to surrender the canal. In 1978, when the U.S. Senate approved the document, an amendment was passed that allows the U.S. to take action to ensure that the canal "remains open, neutral, secure and accessible." But what constitutes a threat to the waterway is not specified, and even if U.S. Marines were dispatched to protect the canal after 1999, it would still belong to Panama. The U.S., of course, could unilaterally abrogate the treaty, but at the cost...
...fact, the U.S. has already given up more than 60% of the Canal Area, as the former Canal Zone is called, since 1979. Panama now operates the railway that serves the facility, nearly all the canal watershed, and the ports of Balboa and Cristobal. U.S. officials in Panama give local workers high marks for their ability to handle complex engineering and piloting tasks. But under Noriega many high-level operational posts have been filled by inept cronies. The result has been mismanagement of the railway and poor road maintenance. Panama has imposed a dubious "lights and buoy" fee on ships...