Self-determination for Panama; U.S. hands off

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Once again the U.S. administration is confronting Manuel Noriega in Panama, and once again the appears to be an immovable object.

"That man has got to go," Reagan and Bush declared in 1987. They backed up their edict with military threats, internal subversion, and economic strangulation of this Central American country. Now Washington has upped the ante with the dispatch of 2000 additional troops to the Canal Zone.

Noriega is one of the more unsavory specimens of military dictators. His political philosophy does not extend beyond his personal aggrandizement. He sold out his country's interests by serving as a CIA agent, utilizing his relations with Fidel Castro to gather intelligence. He even offered to assassinate leaders of the Sandinista government.

Noriega "legitimized" his power through a fraudulent election in 1984. Bush approved the vote-stealing in this case, and attended the inauguration ceremonies. Because Noriega was "our man in Panama," the administration covered up his drug dealing and other corruption.

It could do this up to the point where Noriega proved unreliable for U.S. interests, threatening the stability of Panama at the same time that operation of the Canal was being turned over to that country.

In order to squeeze Noriega out, Reagan and Bush clamped an economic chokehold on Panama's economy. For the last 18 months, Panamanian assets in U.S. banks have been frozen and toll charges on the Canal are not paid to Panama. American firms in Panama are told not to pay taxes.

Panama's Gross National Product has fallen 22 percent.

General dictator demanding that Salinas hold the line with workers, something the PRI has been able to do through appointed crony union leaderships. The teachers' demand to choose their own leaders is perhaps the more frightening one for the Mexican ruling class. If the teachers win, who might be next?

Business Week, stating Washington's position in an article entitled "Why Salinas must tame the teachers," bluntly said, "He

NORIEGA

Internal bank deposits are down 35 percent, and public revenues have dropped 44 percent. This hurts. But not enough to topple Noriega.

The Panamanian business class has proven incapable of ousting Noriega. The opposition candidate in the aborted May 7 elections was bankrolled by the United States. Even so, the general strike called by the opposition on May 17 was a failure.

The working class has little confidence in the bourgeois leadership-but it lacks strong leadership of its own. And STADO RESPALIAN needs to quell their strike before it sparks other protests.

The government fears a spread of the teachers' strike to other sectors, especially to the 1 million-strong government workers' union. A demand for union independence there would be very disruptive to Mexico's plans.

Business Week notes that "rising unrest could push Salinas to use force, an option he has so far avoided." Noriega has appealed to the anti-imperialist sentiment of the Panamanian masses by coming out against the austerity measures of the International Monetary Fund and the threats of the United States to abrogate the Panama Canal Treaty.

The Noriega regime also has protested interference by the Organization of American States (OAS), which Washington had prodded to demand Noriega's immediate departure. On May 17, the OAS decided to send a delegation to Panama to try to work out a deal in which Noriega would leave after a period of two years.

If all else fails, Washington holds the military option. Bush has sent close to 2000 troops to beef up the 10,000 soldiers already there. "It's to protect American lives," Bush says. Weren't 10,000 troops enough?

A Grenada-style operation would be difficult in Panama and would create immense problems in running the Canal. Bush would prefer that the Panamanian army overthrow its commander in chief. On May 13, he called on the Panamanian Defense Force to stage a coup. But the officer corps is closely tied to Noriega and shares in his drug operations.

That is one of Bush's problems in Panama. He wants Noriega out, but American domination to remain. Bush announced that the moment Noriega is ousted, "normal American relations with Panama will be resumed." But "normal relations" have meant 85 years of U.S. economic and military domination.

The Panamanians don't want that anymore. They want an end to dictatorship-and an end to American domination. The American people can best help Panama by demanding that Bush withdraw all U.S. troops and let the Panamanians decide their future for themselves.

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The PRI rulers and their banker and government friends in Washington and beyond are very nervous about the prospect of a truly independent Mexican union movement. The Christian Science Monitor wrote soon after the strike began: "Salinas is now finding that some Mexicans have reached the limits of their patience. Unless he can ease the economic burden, the political situation may soon turn uglier."