Word: panama
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When U.S. troops rushed to Panama's National Police Headquarters two weeks ago to confront a small-scale revolt, they did so without waiting for President Guillermo Endara to ask for help. The reason for the breach of diplomatic procedure? At least four American military officers, including James Steele, head of the U.S. military support group in Panama, were in the building when the rebellion began. After American troops surrounded the headquarters, the officers were allowed to leave. The U.S. embassy then helped Endara make a request...
American soldiers were back on the streets of Panama last week, called in by President Guillermo Endara to quell a rebellion led by the former chief of Panama's national police. The U.S. troops quickly ended the revolt and turned its leader, Colonel Eduardo Herrera Hassan, over to local authorities. Yet this time there was none of the euphoria that followed the U.S. Army's ouster of General Manuel Noriega almost exactly one year ago. And the incident raised doubts about U.S. efforts to nurture a democratic government capable of coping without American help...
...journalists rented a helicopter, then forced the pilot at gunpoint to fly to the island of Naos off the Panamanian coast, where the colonel was being held in prison. Two guards led Herrera to the helicopter, and once on the mainland he went straight to police headquarters in Panama City. Joined by a force of about 100 men, Herrera issued 11 demands to improve the conditions of the National Police. During the night, a contingent of about 500 U.S. troops surrounded the building. Next morning, as Herrera stepped out into the street, U.S. soldiers moved in to arrest...
While the great majority of the 12,000-man Panamanian police force remained loyal to their President, the fact that Endara did not rely on them to put down the rebellion is a sign of serious political weakness. The Herrera episode was also a setback for U.S. interests in Panama, if only because the American show of force was bound to irritate wounds from last year's invasion that have yet to heal. The U.S. still has 10,000 troops stationed in Panama, but that is a substantial reduction from the 24,000 present right after the invasion...
Outside theaters the size of Panama and Grenada, the U.S. consistantly has avoided or flubbed unilateral police action. Certainly, in the world wars, no one suggested that it should be mostly Americans who put their lives on the line. Yet, according to recent estimates, 90 percent of the casualties in a Gulf war may be American troops...