Panama Update Archives
| November 1999 Back to Panama Update "Assertive Engagement" (sidebar to China article) Panama's own concerns about security on the Colombian border has led the new government to accept U.S. tutelage in the formation of a "national security strategy." The plan, scheduled to be unveiled in December, will "define the roles and missions of the Panamanian Public Forces," Southern Command chief General Charles Wilhelm testified before the Senate in October. "U.S. Southern Command plans an assertive engagement effort to achieve shared U.S. and Panamanian security objectives," Wilhelm said. Giving political acceleration to the two government's plans was an attack on a border town inside Panama by Colombian army and paramilitary troops in the early morning of November 18. The troops burned 25 homes in the community of La Bonga, apparently while in pursuit of guerrillas in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). All of La Bonga's residents, most of whom are Colombian, fled to nearby villages. The attack followed the theft two weeks earlier of two private helicopters by Colombians claiming to be members of the FARC, who boarded the helicopters in Panama City's Albrook Airport. The FARC has denied responsibility for the theft, and Panamanian police also expressed doubt about the FARC's involvement, saying the men may have been traffickers. Residents of the Darién, the eastern province bordering Colombia, are increasingly anxious. Teachers in the province, many of whom come from western Panama, asked for protection or to end the school year early for their security. The province's Catholic bishop, Romulo Emiliani, has repeatedly called for more Panamanian police in the area. The U.S. security proposal reportedly includes a "rapid reaction force in case of emergencies," according to La Prensa, as well as a center for "combined gathering and exchange of information and marine intelligence." The proposal focuses on collaboration over five years between Panama's Interior Ministry and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, though it will involve other countries besides the United States from Europe and Latin America, according to President Moscoso. But the purpose of the agreement was still unclear as we went to press. Moscoso said the accord would address drug trafficking, but vice-president Arturo Vallarino said that discussions on an agreement were only about canal security. Marco Ameglio, chair of the Assembly's Foreign Relations Committee, said the agreement under consideration by Panama aims to protect the country's coasts. None of these address the land border with Colombia. As sociologist Raúl Leis has pointed out, the conflictive situation along the border may provide a pretext for renewed Panamanian militarism or foreign military intervention. Yet even General Wilhelm acknowledges that "localized violence occurs when armed paramilitary forces from Colombia pursue the FARC into Panama and terrorize local Panamanians accused of cooperation with the FARC." Amnesty International and other human rights groups have documented the ties between these paramilitary groups and Colombia's armed forces. As recipients of the third highest amount of U.S. security assistance in the world, the Colombian army is a client of the United States. Any security plan for Panama's border with Colombia would logically include ways to check the aggression of the Pentagon's client army. The U.S. military does not appear to be the best candidate to check such aggression. -JLP Sources: Testimony before Senate Armed Services Committee 10/22/99; The Panama News 11/9/99; La Prensa 11/6; 11/18; 11/19/99; El Panamá América 10/2; 11/17; 11/19/99. Brig. General Keith Huber, chief of operations for SouthCom, said in Nov. that "we have had many discussions about what the future U.S. involvement will be in Panama." (Prensa 11/14)
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