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Dealing Noriega Out
| Article
# : |
15838 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1989 |
2,222 Words |
| Author
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Michael Wilson
Michael Wilson is a policy analyst in Latin American affairs
at the Heritage Foundation. He was a longtime resident of
Brazil. |
It was just 11 years ago that the United States, after a protracted and sometimes bitter national debate, agreed to give the Panamanian government control of the Panama Canal and the U.S. military bases that guard the vital waterway. In another 11 years--on December 31, 1999--the actual transfer is scheduled to take place.
If the situation in Panama does not improve--indeed, if there is not a change in government in the troubled Central American country--there is little or no chance that the canal will change hands. In the grand scheme of things, that would probably be the best thing that could happen in terms of U.S. security interests. It could, however, lead to conflict, and most assuredly would deal another crippling blow to U.S. prestige south of the border, adding to our troubles not only in Panama, but throughout the region as well.
At this stage, there are several givens: 1) Dictatorial strongman Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega must go; 2) The United States must protect its interests in the region, assuring the security of the canal beyond the year 2000 and safeguarding the 12,000 U.S. military personnel and 30,000 civilians living in Panama; and 3) the United States now faces one of its greatest foreign policy challenges in recent years, in which easy answers will not suffice.
If the United States fails the test, an already bad situation will become much worse. The price of failure is high. But the price of doing nothing--letting Noriega cement stronger ties with the Colombian drug mafia and terrorist groups, Cuba, the Marxist-Leninist Ortega brothers in Nicaragua, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Libya's Muammar
... (1997 of 13920 Characters)
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