By Lamoin Werlein-Jan
The December 20, 1989 US invasion of Panama was not about Manuel Noriega's involvement with the drug trade, protecting US lives or restoring democracy. These were only the excuses used to justify Washington's gross violation of international law. Rather, the invasion was the result of a strategy designed to impose a pliable Panamanian government, destroy the Panamanian Defence Forces and create the conditions necessary to reverse the Torrijos-Carter Canal Treaties.
In terms of direct interests and investments, Panama represents the US's most important point of contention in Central America. This is not only because of the canal, but also due to Panama's International Banking Centre, the Colon Free Trade Zone and the fact that Panama represents an important "choke point" from which to control the flow of interoceanic trade. Perhaps most important, Panama is home to the US Southern Command with its army, naval and airforce facilities.
During the 1970s and '80s, the US found its hegemony over Panama threatened by an increasingly restless Panamanian Army.
The PDF, led after 1983 by Noriega, had made it clear it intended to see the Canal Treaties followed to the letter. This meant handing over the entire US-built military complex to the PDF, allowing the PDF to take its "rightful" position as guarantors of the canal's security.
As the PDF understood things, this also gave them the right to directly administer the canal. This "militarisation" of canal operations would allow the PDF to institutionalise their "mission"; it would give them an independent source of financing; and it would give them autonomy from any civilian authorities in Panama or any patrones in Washington.
By the mid-1980s the US had begun to reassess its relations with Panama. Right-wing ideologues soon began to challenge the "historic mistake" Carter had made by signing the treaties.
The so-called Santa Fe Document commissioned by the Reagan administration (and apparently supported by the Democrats) called on the US government to pursue policy objectives which included removing Noriega from power, "reforming" the PDF and Panama's judicial system and renegotiating the Torrijos-Carter treaties. According to the document "once a democratic government is installed, the US and Panama must begin to seriously plan for the administration of the canal ... [and] a realistic defence after the year 2000 ... these discussions must include the retention of some US military bases."
Massive force
The US resorted to overwhelming military force to achieve its objective. Over 25,000 US troops participated in a land, sea and air assault against a force of several hundred military and civilian combatants. More than 400 bombs were dropped on Panama City during the first 14 hours of the invasion. The PDF "Comandancia", located in the populous barrio of El Chorrillo, was hit by some 67 projectiles in the first four minutes of the attack.
The combined weight of aerial bombardments, mortar fire and missiles ignited fires which consumed entire neighbourhoods, most notably El Chorrillo. Estimates of deaths range from a low of 557 (from the US Southern Command), to between 2000 and 4000 (from the Association of Relatives of the Fallen of December 20). Over 6,000 people were left injured. In addition, some 20,000 people were left homeless, 10,000 in Chorrillo alone.
The National Council of Private Enterprise estimated that the invasion caused more than US$2 billion in property and infrastructure damage. In Panama City, more than 1000 businesses were damaged, losing a total of 90% of their inventory. In Panama's second largest city, Colon, 150 businesses lost more than $30 million; the Colon Free Trade Zone lost more than $70 million.
These losses were a staggering blow to an economy already battered by two years of US-imposed sanctions. Between 1987 and 1989, GDP had declined by more than 20%, while the official unemployment rate grew from 11% to more than 18%. By 1992 GDP had declined by some 40%, the state-defined poverty rate had risen to over 50% of the population, with the unemployment rate increasing to over 35%.
Born of a foreign invasion and led by inept politicians, the government of Guillermo Endara, has been unable to establish legitimacy and initiative, becoming the latest in a series of bankrupt regimes. The manifestations of political crisis are many: perpetual power struggles, lack of any vision for the future, paralysis in public administration, highly divisive economic policies and no plan for re-establishing sovereignty.
Underlying these tensions are both the continuing impact of the invasion and the wrenching effects of post-invasion, government-imposed economic restructuring.
The National Strategy for Development and Modernisation of the Economy (the "Ford Plan") has created discord within the bourgeoisie as well as widespread opposition from the popular sectors. The plan contemplates the virtual elimination of protective trade barriers and would reduce or eliminate subsidies to private companies. In addition, it calls for the privatisation of the public sector including telecommunications, electricity and water resources. Finally, the plan calls for the firing of over 50,000 state employees.
The combined effects have tended to create a power vacuum, which the US, in the interests of "stability", has moved to fill. In many respects the US has become the final arbiter of the social conflicts within Panama . The US role has included several serious military incursions since the invasion.
From February to June 1990, US troops carried out a "pacification" campaign in poor neighbourhoods in Panama City and Colon. More than 1000 people were arrested. In another incident US troops violently dislodged 200 people who had occupied empty housing in Coco Solo. During this period US forces also raided the offices of several popular organisations.
On December 5, 1991, amidst a labour mobilisation and general strike, some 500 US soldiers moved into Panama City and crushed an alleged coup attempt. Two Panamanian police officers were killed and an undetermined number arrested. The incident served as pretext for Endara to declare a state of emergency and thus undermine the labour demonstrations.
In June, 1992, US troops in battle gear carried out house-to-house searches in the area of Chilibre, some 20 miles north of Panama City. The incident followed the killing of a US soldier and the wounding of several others during armed attacks against them, and the rioting surrounding Bush's visit to Panama. While US troops no longer continually patrol the streets, they are always prepared to mobilise should a crisis erupt.
Emerging opposition
Unfortunately, the popular majority confronts today's situation in a weakened position. Over the past decade the popular classes have been battered by economic stagnation and social crisis, and their organisations have been subject to internal and foreign repression. Moreover, these sectors have all had to deal with internal differences relating to Noriega and the role of the military in Panamanian society.
Yet, under extremely difficult conditions, people have found ways to organise and challenge the status quo. Perhaps the most important example has been in El Chorrillo.
Since the invasion, the Chorrilleros have carried out an unceasing struggle for justice and reparations. The Movement of Families of the Fallen of December 20th, led by Isabel Corro, and the Committee of War Refugees of Chorrillo, led by Raphael Olivardia, have been instrumental in channelling anger into action.
One of the first mobilisations took place on May 20, 1990, when some 2000 protesters marched to the US embassy and over 100 families filed a claim for $100 million against the US government. A month later some 10,000 people took to the streets denouncing the invasion and subsequent occupation. Over the past two years the clamour for justice has grown, only to be violently repressed by the newly created Fuerzas Publicas.
Demands for an honest accounting of the casualties caused by the invasion have been a very important aspect of this activism.
The labour movement has been another important centre of resistance. Labour opposition to the Endara government crystallised relatively quickly, with the first protests beginning in the second week of January 1990. In the months that followed numerous mobilisations and protests, mainly led by public employees, were launched. The central demand was a moratorium on lay-offs.
Most labour struggles have been defensive ones to preserve jobs and other hard-won gains. In 1990 mobilisations brought 50,000 workers out on October 16 and over 100,000 on December 4 in preparation for a general strike called for December 5.
Subsequently the labour movement has faced a great deal of harassment and repression. After the events of December 5 (when Endara declared a state of emergency — see above), the government decreed "Law 25", which provided for firing any public employee accused of "destabilising the democracy" and resulted in the massive lay-offs of mainly union activists.
What is potentially the most important labour upsurge is taking shape. For two months public teachers from the university, secondary and primary schools have been on strike, closing the entire public school system. Sensing the government's weakness, several other public and private sector unions have announced possible strikes in what is becoming the broadest challenge to Endara/Ford Plan "neo-liberal" economic policies.
Perhaps the most tense site of struggle has been in Colon. The most important expression of resistance has been the Movement of the Unemployed of Colon (MODESCO). MODESCO has led numerous waves of protests demanding relief and employment.
The first serious protest occurred in April 1992, after several weeks of demonstrations began to seriously disrupt the flow of commerce. Under the pretext of "restoring order" anti-riot squads violently dislodged protesters from the streets. The confrontations escalated in July 1992, when security forces opened up on demonstrators with live ammunition and killed 31-year-old Marta Calonje Ibarra. Several leaders of MODESCO were arrested and detained indefinitely. More recently, beginning on March 20, 1993, several days of mobilisations led to further repression.
Native Americans in Panama have also resisted. The struggle for self-determination, specifically the demand for self-rule and regional autonomy, has brought Native Americans into open conflict with the government. In May 1993 a wave of protests involving the Ngobe, Kuna and Embera nations swept the province of Chiriqui. In a coordinated action, 4000 protesters blocked the Panamerican Highway near the towns of San Felix and Santiago. These actions culminated on June 1, 1993, when security forces attacked the protests, killing Ngobe activist Saturnino Aguirre.
All these popular movements have converged around one question: the demand for self-determination and sovereignty. Annually on December 20, massive marches, involving tens of thousands of people, have converged on Chorrillo to mourn and condemn the invasion.
In the immediate period ahead much of the struggle will be filtered through national elections scheduled for May.
Beyond the elections are the six short years until the Canal Treaties are to be consummated with the complete withdraw of the US Southern Command. At least that's the way it looks on paper. The reality is quite different, with clear indications the US will attempt to maintain a presence on the isthmus beyond the year 2000. And if the invasion tells us anything, it's that the US government is prepared to resort to extreme measures to achieve its objectives.
[Abridged from CrossRoads (US).]