PLANS FOR "MULTILATERAL" ANTI-DRUG CENTER ON HOLD

After more than a year of negotiations, Panama and the US seem to have
backed away from plans to establish the so-called Multilateral Anti-drug
Center (CMA) on the grounds of US military bases slated for closing by
December 31, 1999. US officials are now said to be seeking support from
other countries for alternatives to a Panama-based anti-drug center.

The Panamanian government has said it would support the establishment of
such a center in another country.

Difficulties arose after the Panamanian government rejected a US condition
that operation of the center be guaranteed for a minimum of 12 years.

Panama was reportedly seeking a three-year operation with the possibility of
renewal. [El Nuevo Herald (Miami) 6/30/98 from AP; Agencia Informativa
Amarc-Pulsar; 6/29/98, 7/1/98; El Diario-La Prensa 6/29/98 from AP]

An article in the British magazine The Economist notes that to the US,
Howard Air Force Base is "the jewel in the crown" of its bases in Panama,
featuring radio listening posts, a naval station, a jungle-warfare school,
and three firing ranges and a laboratory used for testing weapons and
equipment in tropical conditions. The tropical testing center, The Economist
reports, is considered irreplaceable and has become a sore point between the
US and Panama. The article suggests that regardless of what happens to the
CMA, the testing center is likely to survive beyond 1999, "perhaps under a
nominally private-sector flag."

The article points out that the US has "several reasons for wanting to stay"
in Panama. "One is security for the canal, another Colombia. The one being
trumpeted by the Clinton administration is drugs."

Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"