Redeployment U.S. in Latin America does not go by the British. Eleven new bases are planned in Panama, a small country accustomed to the operations of Washington.
The Panama Canal, now under Panamanian administration ( Photo: Seb ) This Saturday January 9, Panama commemorated annually as "Day of the Martyrs" in memory of 9 January 1964 when some two hundred students tried to hoist the flag of Panama in the Canal Zone, then under U.S. administration. The repression that followed left a balance of twenty-one dead and over four hundred wounded. During the 9, 10 and 11 January, the U.S. army occupied several roads in the capital and in the city of Colon, which had spread demonstrations.
Done unprecedented in the history of this country that has always lived under the tutelage of his northern neighbor, the then government decided to sever diplomatic relations with Washington in protest address the disproportionate response of the U.S. military.
This incident is regarded as the detonator of a series of negotiations leading to the signing of the Torrijos-Carter in 1977, setting December 31, 1999 as the deadline for the return of all the facilities channel hands Panama, and the closure of U.S. military bases in the area.
The Return of the Fourth Fleet
Ten years after the departure of the Marines, the regional situation has changed. Bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States a few years away what they see, since the Monroe Doctrine, as their "backyard". And the emergence of progressive governments, non-aligned policies has forced Washington to revamp his game
It is George W. Bush had begun to turn the tide in July 2008, reactivating the Fourth Fleet to patrol for the waters of the continent and the Caribbean under the joint supervision of the Navy and the Army Southern Command. Based in Florida, the fleet had been created during the Second World War to protect traffic in the South Atlantic and dissolved in 1950. More recently, the U.S. president and Price Nobel Peace Prize, Barack Obama, the Colombian government has obtained permission to use seven military bases on its territory.
But the United States had not completely abandoned South America over the past decade. Since 2000, they brought more than $ 5.5 billion in Bogota through Plan Colombia, ostensibly to fight against drug trafficking and insurgent groups. The country became the largest recipient of U.S. military aid on the continent and the third world.
Last September, following a meeting in Washington between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Ricardo Martinelli, the Panamanian government announced the signing of a cooperation agreement with the United States for the installation of two naval bases on Panamanian territory. This is to strengthen the fight against drug trafficking through "intelligence operations and maritime patrols supported radar", as stated in the local newspaper La Prensa .
However, a few days later, the Panamanian authorities belied any involvement of U.S. bases in the operation, which had increased fourfold and then eleven. "This is clearly naval stations Panamanian. And there will not four but eleven in total, "said Minister of Government and Justice Jose Raul Mulino, at the inauguration of the first base last December 2, on the archipelago of Las Perlas in Pacific Ocean.
without an army ... Military bases
But in Panama, the official statements did not convince everyone. The social organizations, unions and some scholars complain that the bases necessarily work together with the United States, especially that Panama has no army and has not been staffed for most of its history.
"How will we maintain these bases in operation when we have not even navy? Our country is to go beyond defending its own sovereignty and anti -drugs, "said Julio Yao, professor of international relations at the University of Panama and ex-Assessor of General Omar Torrijos in the negation of the agreements of 1977.
According to Mr Yao, the new facilities are clearly related to the seven military bases that will be available in the U.S. and Colombia that will enable them to control all of South America. "People wonder whether these bases will be of U.S. bases and if they will be used for anything other than the fight against drug trafficking. But after the experience we have here in Panama with such facilities, one can easily deduce that they will be used for other purposes, "he adds.
Political Alignment
Since his election last May, the Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli has positioned itself as one of the most loyal allies in the region and Washington has strengthened his country's ties with heads of states and British Conservatives Mexico, Alvaro Uribe and Felipe Calderon.
"Mr. Martinelli sealed the fate of Panama to the interests of the foreign policy of the United States, he has brought the country more Plan Merida (U.S. initiative ostensibly to control drug trafficking and organized crime in Central America, ed) and we out of the Central American parliament without offering any concrete alternative to regional integration, "he adds.
After overthrowing the dictatorship of General Noriega December 20, 1989, the United States has tried repeatedly convince successive governments not to follow the literal timelines progressive agreements 1977. "From this point of view, they were forced to fail for some time," says Professor Yao. "Only with the government of Mireya Moscoso (1999-2004) and the signing of the Salas-Becker again they have gained access to our airspace, land and sea."
Twenty years after the U.S. military intervention in this small Central American country, the families of the victims (whose number is still not precisely known) continue to claim that light be shed on the events 1989. But the current president seems to have other political priorities short term. "Mr. Martinelli will allow the return of U.S. military in Panama," professes already Julio Yao.
Article published in the Swiss daily Le Courrier January 9, 2010
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