Popular organizations, for their part, reject the submissive and capitulating behavior of the current government of Laurentino Cortizo and warn of the danger that the winds of December 1989 will return, when a military invasion sowed chaos and death in the most humble neighborhoods of the Central American country.
The evidence and complaints are not new. Just one example: In February 2021, the Panama Canal Institute and International Studies at the University of Panama revealed that the United States “insists on the use of military forces to try to prevent drug trafficking and high consumption in its own territory.” .
According to a statement released at the time, the academic institutions condemned the establishment of the Regional Naval Air Operations Center (Croan), an agreement signed on February 12, 2021 by Secretary of Security Juan Pino and the Chargé d’Affaires of the United States Embassy in Panama, Stewart Tuttle .
This memorandum, they claimed, flagrantly violated the treaty on the permanent neutrality of the canal and its operation, alluding to Article V, which states that after 2000 only the Republic of Panama will administer the interoceanic waterway and armed forces, defense installations, and military installations is maintained within its territory; Finally: “Let us respect each other so that they respect us”.
They also warned that complacency could prove very costly, considering that even the North American invasion of December 1989 failed to prevent the dismantling of all bases in the northern country and the complete withdrawal of its troops to commit the naivety commit to a failed and unjustifiable method and activate the new military presence in Panama.
More recently, the establishment of three so-called bi-national bases with neighboring Colombia in the Darién jungle tries to justify the US military presence, but does not stem the surge in the flow of irregular migrants.
As Security Minister Juan Manuel Pino told the foreign press, to date 46,415 migrants have passed through the reception stations in the Darién in an irregular flow that reached a historic record in 2021 with the transit of 133,000 people.
“The impact on our communities is minimal because of the management we are giving it. There is coordination with international organizations and we are reinforcing our camps and also screening everyone who enters,” the official added.
This year, compared to 2021, the number of people with pending cases in the United States who were immediately deported to their country of origin has doubled.
UNICEF recently warned that the number of migrant children and youth crossing the inhospitable jungle has doubled so far in 2022. Since January, the number of minors who have used this route has reached five thousand, by agreement with the United Nations Organization.
THE MOST VISITED COUNTRY
Journalist José Didimo, interviewed by Prensa Latina, recalls that the United States government has not had a permanent ambassador to Panama for almost four years.
The last head of his diplomatic legation was John Feeley, who took office in mid-February 2016 on the mandate of Juan Carlos Varela (2014-2019).
The ambassador retired in 2018 after open involvement in actions against tycoon Nidal Waked’s family businesses that ended in a serious fiasco and a lawsuit against the Panamanian state.
To date, there is no titular ambassador, although Puerto Rican Mary Carmen Aponte was nominated by the Joe Biden government more than six months ago, he specifies.
Didimo, director of the political analysis magazine El Periódico de Panamá, comments that in a rare coincidence, the White House abruptly deposed its ambassador when the country decided to establish full diplomatic relations with China in early 2018.
Since then, four third-rate officials have been handling relations on behalf of the embassy, in a clear demonstration of disregard for national dignity or punishment for the Republic of Panama’s sovereign decision.
But while there was no leader, there has been a parade of visits from various US agencies from the State Department, security, migration, trade and other areas over the past three years, Didimo says.
On April 15, United States Secretary of State and Security Antony Blinken and Alejandro Mayorkas, respectively, traveled to Panama to attend a ministerial conference on migration and protection aimed at exerting greater geopolitical control on the continent.
Blinken met with Panamanian Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes on several occasions and stated that the Central American country is a respected ally of the United States, a slogan echoed by local authorities.
The communicator stressed that Panama has become a place where high-ranking Washington officials travel.
General Laura Richardson, the first female chief of Southern Command, traveled to the Isthmus on June 13–14. During the last century, this unified command was established under US control on the banks of the Panama Canal, where they had established 14 military bases and have had their headquarters in Florida for 22 years.
After the failed IX. America Summit in Los Angeles, California, Commander Richardson’s presence was a consequence of earlier talks and talks, according to Didimo.
She was received by President Cortizo at the Palacio de las Garzas (Executive Headquarters) and discussed border security and irregular migration with Secretary of Security Juan Pino.
He also exchanged views with the directors of the National Border Service (Senafront), the National Aeronaval Service (Senan), and the National Migration Service.
What can be concluded from this whole parade is an unusual nuisance to control Panama’s foreign policy and to be able to maintain a military presence in the country given the recent election results in Colombia, the communicator stressed.
All this “because of the safety of the canal or simply the migratory problem of thousands of people from other nations, including Africa and Asia, who are trying to pass through Colombian territory and the border that we share with the ultimate destination of the United States,” he pointed out .
Neither the Panama Canal Treaties nor the Permanent Neutrality Treaty in any way allow for the possibility of a foreign military presence on our territory, since these actions are contrary to the norms of international law, he stressed.
The unilateral amendments introduced by the United States in the Treaty (Torrijos-Carter) of September 7, 1977 are not recognized by international contract law, as they constitute a legal instrument negotiated between the parties and the imposition that some of the parties intend to do so one-sided.
SHADOWS OF THE MILITARY INVASION 1989
dr Julio Yao, former foreign policy adviser to General Omar Torrijos, wrote several articles and books related to the United States’ continued interest in militarizing Panama and regaining the waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific, a strategy that the most obvious was 33 years ago. , than the military invasion of this country.
On December 20, 1989, more than 20,000 U.S. troops armed with state-of-the-art heavy artillery seized Itsmean territory by land and sea, resulting in the overthrow of General Manuel Noriega.
The disclosure of a secret United States document confirmed that the real goal of the aggression was to abolish the Canal Treaties, and to that end they captured and overthrew Noriega.
In 2017, 28 years later, documents proving the true purpose of this criminal offensive were unearthed in the newspaper La Estrella Yao.
“Our goal is to destabilize the country without risking our presence and influence there, while having a legitimate basis for repealing the Torrijos-Carter Accords,” stressed the text of the National Security Council’s secret sensitive memorandum, dated April 8 of 1986.
The professor, of Chinese origin, pointed out that the George Bush “Senior” administration carried out the so-called Operation Just Cause, in which it deployed 26,000 troops. The attack took place during the night, and the occupation of the streets and ministries was extended by two years.
Speaking to Prensa Latina, he said he received and kept these and other documents in 1989 to present along with a lawsuit before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the same thing he did in a mailed interview with General Noriega im year 1993.
As a political analyst and personal assistant to former Secretary of State Juan Antonio Tack, he proved that in addition to maintaining control of the Interoceanic Canal, the United States’ goal was to distance Japan from the possibility of working on its expansion, which was being negotiated by The Torrijos and Noriega’s government continued.
The latter explained in an interview in 1993 that Japan had made commitments to the studies of the future canal and had been looking for suitable options, which began with the visit of the President of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, Shigeo Nagano.
The then head of the Panamanian Defense Forces (FDP) asserted that Washington was pushing to eliminate these contacts, which he described as blackmailing the Japanese because of the commitments they had made in the post-war period.
So far, no US reactions are known to confirm the authenticity of the memorandum.
The United States intervened in Panama seven times from 1856 to 1989. In the Central American country, the number of deaths from Operation Just Cause is not clear, but according to the Association of Relatives of the Fallen of December 20, 1989, they lost their lives, more than four thousand people.
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