Leftists in both Colombia and Panama, and a good part of the Colombian
press, are claiming that a projected airstrip in Nicanor, a few
miles outside Yaviza, is part of a US plan to use Panama as a
springboard for military actions against Colombia's FARC guerrillas.
The allegation would seem to be bolstered by the fact that Nicanor,
a phoneless community of some 200 santeño campesinos, would not
need an airstrip that's big enough to accommodate big military
transport planes.
When questioned about it, Panama's ambassador to the United States,
Guillermo Ford, said that the charge is "totally false - for now."
It's not very reassuring.
Part of the problem is that the Moscoso administration has some
sort of secret agreement with the United States. In light of the
secrecy, and Uncle Sam's known intention to escalate Colombia's
civil war, many people assume the worst.
I think that there are certain matters that must be kept secret,
but that the broad strategy of how Panama will defend itself should
be a matter of public discourse. For example, the government should
not discuss the measures it takes to prevent somebody from placing
an explosive charge aboard a liquid propane tanker and detonating
it while said vessel is in the Gatun Locks; but whether Panama
should be tacitly allied with the Colombian Army and its AUC death
squad appendage should be the subject of open and honest debate.
The government says that the Nicanor airstrip is an economic development
project, and that claim should not be rejected out of hand. After
all, it is a matter of some economic importance to the Darien
to improve our police force's capacity to respond to violent crimes
there. A very good illustration of this was an arts festival that
took place last year in Embera Puru. A week or so before, a heavily
armed gang kidnapped a Panamanian man who was driving on the Pan-American
Highway near Meteti, and news of the crime kept attendance at
the festival down. The artists' sales were disappointing. Families
went hungry because the police lacked the means to suppress the
bandoleros' attack.
Moreover, what if the AUC or FARC decide, for whatever reason,
to change their practices and invade Panama in force? Whether
the response is to mobilize a militia under the National Police's
direction (as called for in Panama's constitution), or to invoke
the canal neutrality treaty and bring in American troops, or to
deploy United Nations peacekeepers, the airstrip in Nicanor would
be most useful. It's better to set up our defensive perimeter
outside Yaviza, than on Cerro Azul.
