Letter from Panama

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The following organizations participated in the Dec. I antiwar conference at New York's Riverside Church:

Act for Peace in the Middle East/Phila. Pa.; Aegis Justice (Student Network); American Committee on Africa; Action for Peace Solutions; American Committee on Africa; Action for Peace Solutions; Autonomous Anarchist Action; American Friends Service Committee; Artwork; Austin Campaign for Peace in the Middle East; Baltimore Coalition Against U.S. Intervention in the Middle East; Black Veterans for Social Justice; Birmingham Committee Against Intervention in the Middle East; Brooklyn Committee for Peace and Social Justice; Brandeis Coalition for Peace; Buddhist Council, N.Y.; CASAWestchester; Center for Constitutional Rights; Catholic Peace Fellowship; Central Jersey Coalition; City College Students for Educational Rights; Church Women United; Campaign for Peace and Democracy; Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador; Citizens Mobilization to Prevent War in the Middle East; Communist Party-USA; Coalition of Community and University Groups for Peace in the Gulf Region/Ann Arbor; Clearwater Poughkeepsie Coalition to Stop U.S. Intervention in the Middle East; Coalition for Peace in the Middle East-Chapel Hill, N C.; Commitiee Against U.S. Intervention in the Persian Gulf/Cleveland, Ohio; Clergy and Laity Concerned-CALC; Committee against a Vietnam War in the Middle East/Berkeley, Calif.; Committee against a Vietnam War in the Middle East/Boston; Democratic Socialists of America; Democratic Socialists of America-Youth Section; Delaware County Campaign for Peace in the Middle East; Emergency Coalition for Peace in the Middle East/Chicago, IIl.; Episcopal Diocese of Michigan; Emergency Committee for Peace, Justice, NonIntervention/Boston; Emergency Committee to Stop U.S. War in the Middle East-San Francisco; Emergency National Council against U.S. Intervention in Central America/Caribbean; Fellowship of Reconciliation; Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice; Fourth International Tendency; Freedom Road/Socialist Organization; Friends Peace Committee; Greenpeace; Greater New Haven Peace Council; Guardian; Gulf Crisis TV project; Gulf Coast Tenants/New Orleans; Hands Off; Housing NOW; Hudson County Coalition for Peace in Middle East; Hundreth Monkey; Impact Visuals; International Association of Machinists, Local 1018; Institute for Policy Studies; International Socialist Organization; Initiative for Peace in the Middle East; International Jewish Peace Union/Seattle, WA; International Jewish Peace Union/ NY; Jobs with Peace; Jackson State Student Body; Jews Against U.S. Troops in Saudi Arabia; Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy; Local 14 SOCIALIST ACTION DE Alliance for Mideast Peace/Maryville, TN.; Louisville Committee for Israeli/Palestine States; Middle East Action Network; Middle East Crisis Coalition/Milwaukee, WI; Middle East Justice Network, MA; Military Families Support Network; Manhattan (Kansas) Alliance for Peace in the Middle East; National Mobilization for Survival; Morgantown Coalition, Morgantown, W.Va.; National Campaign for Independent Political Action; National Committee Against a Vietnam War in the Middle East; National Council of Churches; National Lawyers Guild; No War for Oil-Albany; NYU-U.S. Out of the Intervention; NYC Student Network Against U.S. Intervention in the Middle East; Neighbor to Neighbor; New Jersey Coalition against War in the Middle East; New Yorkers for Peace in the Gulf; New Jewish Agenda; N.Y. Campaign for a Peace Dividend; Northeast Colleges Against the War; Operation Real Security; Out Now; Oberlin College Coalition Against Apartheid and White Supremacy; Palestine Aid Society; Palestine Human Rights-Information Center; Palestine Solidarity Committee; Paper Tiger- V; Pax Christi-Metro NYC; People for Peace in the Persian Gulf (Syracuse Coalition); People's Anti-War Mobilization, (NYC); Persian Gulf Crisis Coalition; Minn., MN; Physicians for Social Responsibility; Pittsburgh Committee for a Peaceful Resolution of the Gulf Crisis; Pittsburgh Committee for a Comprehensive Peace in the Middle East; Postal Mailhandlers-Local 300; Philadelphia Yearly Meeting-Friends Peace Committee; Pledge of Resistance; Presbytery of NYC; Presbyterian UN Office; Progressive Student Network; Queens Peace and Solidarity Council; Refuse/Resist; Rainbow Coalition; Riverside Church; RCP; SANE/Freeze; Southern Organization Committee; Shorefront Peace Committee; Syracuse Network for Israel-Palestine Peace; Socialist Action; Seattle Coalition; Socialist Workers Party; St. Louis Forum for Peace in the Gulf; Social Workers for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament; Sojourners; Solidarity; Student Action Union; Student Environmental Action CommitteeSEAC; Stop the U.S. War Machine/Action Network; Twenty/Twenty Vision; Undercurrents; U. Mass Graduate Student Senate; U.S. Out of the Middle East- RI; U. of Michigan Student Coalition Against the War; U.S. Peace Council; U.S. Students Council; Veterans Civic Action Team/ Huntington, MA; Vietnam Veterans Against the War; War Resisters League; Washington Area Student Coalition for Peace in the Middle East; Washington Area Coalition to Stop Intervention; Westchester People's Action Committee (M.E. Campaign); World Peacemakers; Women for Racial and Economic Equality; Womens' International League for Peace and Freedom; Workers League; Young Socialist Alliance. EMBER 1990 One year ago, U.S. troops bombed and occupied Panamaa brutal dress rehearsal for a future war in the Middle East. Following are major portions of a letter given to Socialist Action staffwriter Sylvia Weinstein at a conference sponsored by the Federation of Cuban Women, in Havana last October.

I would like to begin this brief message by sending greetings to all the American women who opposed the U.S. invasion of Panama, a country which, after being invaded, is now being repressed. As a nationalist woman, I feel great anger at what has occurred in my country. But my experience has also strengthened my resolve to denounce this hideous U.S. invasion.

I would like my personal testimony to be heard throughout the United States. The American people must find out what really occurred to our people, to our community.

On Dec. 24, 1989, my sister Matyorie and I were followed and stopped by young Panamanian members of a para-military squad, who were clearly trained at the U.S. military installations in Panama. These young men asked us if we were members of the Dignity Batallions. They told us that if we were they would kidnap us.

Before we could even respond to their question, one member of the para-military gang simply took out his gun and shot my sister, crippling her for life. Today she is in a wheelchair.

These squads took over the neighborhoods because there was armed resistance to the U.S. invasion. I attribute this savage attack on my sister to the fact that I belonged—proudly, I should add—to the Patriotic Command Ascanio Villaluz and because I responded to the call to defend my homeland.

I witnessed with my own eyes the missile attacks by U.S. Cobra helicopters on the district of San Miguelito, where hundreds of children, women, and members of the Dignity Batallions died.

The Cuban government led by Comandante Fidel Castro opened its doors to us and offered my sister full medical treatment. I can't thank the Cuban people enough for their solidarity and support. I will follow their example of internationalism, of struggle for the self-determination of the peoples, and of respect for the internal affairs of nations, free from U.S. intervention.

People of the United States, you who do not know what an invasion is about, open your eyes and see the injustices that are being committed in Panama and other countries by George Bush.

Yorbalinda Chen