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Panama NATIONAL SECURITY
As perceived by the Defense Forces, threats to national
security were of two basic types: those arising from domestic
insurgency and those of foreign origin. Although the FDP has
conducted military exercises to deal with the contingency of
guerrilla activity, there was no such activity in Panama through
the mid-1980s.
To understand the military's perception of internal threat, it
is important to note that the Defense Forces were closely
identified with the formation of the political regime in existence
in the late 1980s. This regime was formed in 1968 when Torrijos and
the National Guard seized power through a coup d'état. For two
decades, the military served as the ultimate guarantor of this
political regime, whether headed as it was in the early 1970s by
Torrijos or later by a succession of civilian presidents. Given
this history of close military association with the existing
political regime, there has been a tendency to view any domestic
political challenge to it (democratic or otherwise) as a threat to
national security.
The belief by members of opposition political parties that the
direct elections for president held in 1984 had been rigged by the
FDP led them to challenge the legitimacy of Ardito Barletta's
government. When he was removed by the Defense Forces in 1985 and
replaced by Eric Arturo Delvalle Henríquez, political opposition
groups became even more vociferous in their charges of military
interference in politics. Charges of electoral fraud and FDP
involvement in perpetrating it were rendered even more credible in
1986, when articles in the New York Times cited high United
States government officials as having proof that the electoral
results had been rigged.
Responses by the Defense Forces to these charges of electoral
fraud demonstrated the relationship they saw as existing between
domestic political opposition and national security. In April 1986,
following a period in which United States congressmen and
Panamanian political parties openly criticized the Defense Forces,
400 lieutenants issued a statement that was read by one of their
number on national television. The "Lieutenants' Declaration"
suggested that foreign and domestic groups were attacking the FDP
in an effort to destroy its national cohesion and undermine
national security: "For the first time in our republican history
. . . political groups--although they consider
themselves to be democratic and idealistic--have adopted an open
position of selling out the national interest and have opened up
the embarrassing possibility of foreign intervention."
The FDP viewed this threat to national security as also
emanating from the links between the domestic political opposition
and certain United States congressional leaders opposed to the
existing regime. President Delvalle and the FDP suggested that
there was a "seditious plot" involving the United States Department
of State and certain "bad Panamanians" aiming not only to have the
president removed from office but also to roll back the clock to
the 1960s, when the oligarchy dominated the political arena.
Troops of the Defense Forces, particularly the First Public
Order Company (Doberman), have been used on occasion to quell
domestic rioting viewed as a threat to national security. Most
public demonstrations and riots during the mid-1980s resulted from
deteriorating economic conditions related to the global recession.
In 1986 the National Council of Organized Workers called a fortyeight -hour general strike that eventually resulted in some random
violence and one death. The most extensive use of military forces
to quell domestic violence came in 1987, following accusations
about Noriega's involvement in electoral fraud and narcotics
trafficking made by the forcibly retired former chief of staff,
Colonel Roberto Díaz Herrera.
Whereas the Panamanian military's role as a police force had
traditionally conditioned it to concentrate on internal threats to
national security, the FDP has increasingly turned its attention to
the external environment. The crises affecting several of the
countries in Central America, coupled with the FDP's assumption of
the new military mission of defending the canal, has led to a
serious concern with security policy in the broadest sense. New
units such as the Peace Battalion were specifically charged with
defending the border and preventing illegal immigration from
countries such as Nicaragua and El Salvador. Battalion 2000's
participation in United States-Panamanian military field exercises
was intended to make it capable of rebuffing threats to the canal
from guerrilla groups supported by a foreign power.
To the extent that Panamanian foreign policy is a reflection of
opinion within the FDP, it suggests that the military thinks
geostrategically about the security of the canal in the context of
a volatile regional situation. Panama, as one of the original "Core
Four" mediators (along with Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia) in the
Contadora peace process
(see glossary), has been an active participant in the search for
negotiated peace settlements in Central America. However,
the Panamanians have argued, often
through Noriega, that any peace treaty for Central America with no
military "teeth" would not bring true peace. In addition, Noriega
has often stated that the region's military leaders must be
actively involved in the peace process. The FDP's view appears to
be that the security of Panama and the canal demands a strong
regional military structure capable of ensuring treaty compliance.
From the above, it can be gathered that the FDP has come to view
questions of national security in much the same light as they have
traditionally been viewed by other Latin American armies.
* * *
The magazine Defensa, published by the G-3 of the
Defense Forces, is an indispensable source of information
concerning military developments in Panama. It contains articles on
organizational structure, military exercises, and political
orientation. For a broad understanding of the historical evolution
of the military since independence, two books are useful: Renato
Pereira's Panamá: fuerzas armadas y política and Steve C.
Ropp's Panamanian Politics: From Guarded Nation to National
Guard. The Panama Canal treaties, implementation agreements,
and records of congressional hearings on the treaties are essential
as sources of information on Panamanian security affairs and the
future United States role in those affairs. The administration of
justice as well as a range of matters affecting United StatesPanamanian security relations were treated at length in the
hearings on "The Situation in Panama" held by the United States
Senate in March and April 1986. (For further information and
complete citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of December 1987
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