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A Missed Opportunity in Panama
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15420 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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12 / 1989 |
1,781 Words |
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Michael G. Wilson
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Early in October, the United States was presented with a rare opportunity to help depose Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, Panama's infamous narco-dictator. Despite having advance warning that an anti-Noriega coup was imminent in Panama and that some U.S. assistance would be welcome, Washington failed to act, citing insufficient intelligence about the operation. Some feel that the United States once again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in Central America. The administration, however, contends that if the coup attempt could be replayed, the U.S. response would remain the same.
On the morning of October 3, several hundred troops in opposition to Noriega's continued outlaw rule seized the Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF) headquarters, apprehending the military strongman in the process. Despite early indications that the coup might succeed, a pro-Noriega countercoup managed to regain control by midafternoon.
The decision by Washington to refrain from using its 12,000 highly trained U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) forces paved the way for Noriega loyalists to mount their bloody siege and retake the PDF headquarters. This resulted in the death of rebel leader Maj. Moises Giroldi Vega and at least nine of his allies. The apparent lack of a U.S. contingency plan for responding to such an event, combined with indecision, miscommunication, and confusion by U.S. personnel both in Panama and Washington, helped turn this potentially successful coup against Noriega into the latest in a continuing series of U.S. foreign policy blunders in Central America.
High Stakes In Panama?
There is a growing concern that Noriega may be trying to take Panama into what is rapidly becoming the "Warsaw Pact of the West" by expanding ties with Cuba and Nicaragua and importing Soviet-bloc weapons and equipment possibly to be used against U.S. interests in the region. According to recent Panamanian defectors, Noriega now enjoys the protection of at least 300 Cuban special forces personnel used for training and security purposes. Noriega also has been expanding relations with such U.S. adversaries as Libya, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and the Soviet Union. He has accomplished this while sustaining his very close and long-time friendships with Latin America's drug and terrorist organizations.
Also at stake is the Panama Canal, this hemisphere's strategic equivalent of Gibraltar, through which approximately 15,000 ships pass each year. The Canal is a military asset of immeasurable importance to the United States, allowing U.S. Navy vessels to move swiftly between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and avoid the three-week, 13,000-mile trip around Cape Horn. The Canal also allows commercial shipping to move quickly and inexpensively between the East and West coasts of the United States. Approximately 15 percent of all U.S. imports and exports pass through the Canal annually.
For over two years now, the United States has been trying to encourage and facilitate Noriega's downfall. The crisis with Noriega initially developed in early June of 1987 after Col. Roberto Diaz Herrera, a close Noriega confidant and second-in-command of the PDF, publicly accused the dictator of involvement in drug trafficking, money laundering, election tampering, and murder. These accusations sparked the first anti-Noriega protests in Panama and escalated
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