A FREE HAND FOR REAGAN IN PANAMA 
                           from La Jornada 3/11/88


    [The day after the House and Senate almost unanimously backed Reagan
Policy in Panama--which includes cutting off what we owe Panama and then
sneering because they don't have money--"La Jornada," Mexico's best
progressive daily, published this editorial.] 

     The interventionist resolution of the U.S. House of Representatives
against Panama, restores the consensus in favor of Reagan's Central American
policy and gives the White House a free hand to carry out large-scale
aggressive mobilizations.  The infamous accord of the Representatives covers
the domestic political rearguard, already backed up by the U.S. press, and has
suddenly raised the risks of this conjuncture.

     Washington thus finished the network of preparations it needs in order to
deliver the final blow against a nation suffering convulsions, historically
crumbling as it attempts to work out its nationality, exceptionally sensitive
regarding its relations with other countries, and now practically alone.
There are far more more governments joining either through action or omission
in the campaign of aggressions being orchestrated by the United States that
there are those who will speak out in defense of the principle of
self-determination.

Ronald Reagan had no trouble gathering the Congresspeople.  For at least two
years, the U.S. government has developed a solid structure of conspiracy that
has allowed them to drag Panama in front of the firing squad.  If governments,
parliaments and mass media only see a gang of drug dealers in Panamanian
military uniforms threatening the future of the canal, then Capitol Hill is
easily persuaded by a similar interpretation of events.

The same House that refused to continue financing the Anti- Nicaraguan
mercenaries, now demands that changes be made according to its taste ("cambios
a su gusto") in the internal government of Panama.  In reality there's there
no difference between yesterday's resolution and [the anti-contra] vote on
February 3 which gave the Sandinista revolution a moment to catch its breath.

In both cases, the criteria was intervention, the conviction of the people in
the U.S. Congress that they can, with total impunity, discuss and pass
resolutions about matters which are in fact the internal business of other
countries.  The difference is in the procedures discussed and the conditions
of each case.

The offensive against Nicaragua has already shown the risks which the United
States is facing.  The attack against Panama however can go ahead without any
major discomforts at the moment.  On the contrary, it can take place
practically in clear daylight, while the whole world watches, without really
committing military force nor troops, without running the risk of direct
combat nor of getting troops bogged down in foreign lands.

For Washington, the double coup at the end of February [when DeValle tried to
fire Noriega and the National Assembly instead fired DeValle] was quite
sufficient to cast an atmosphere of very suspicious circumstances.  Given
that, it was easy for Washington to propitiate the decomposition of the
Panamanian government, widen the internal splits and set up a new government
over in the corner, all leading toward the final event in the coup.  By doing
so, Reagan in the last few weeks has recovered his ability to make moves in
Central America and recovered internal control in his nation.  He finds
himself once again in his true element [as a conqueror] and arrives on the
brink of an attack whose consequences will be resented throughout Latin
American for many years.  
 
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