Senate Raps Panama Over Drug Activity

The Senate, in a purely symbolic move, said today that the Reagan Administration was wrong in certifying that Panama has fully cooperated with U.S. efforts to stamp out drug production and trafficking.

But the chamber refused to adopt similar resolutions aimed at Mexico and the Bahamas, with one senator saying he did not want to engage in “Mexico-bashing.”

The disapproval of Panamanian anti-drug efforts as insufficient came in a voice vote after the Senate, on a 31-58 vote, refused to table, or effectively kill, the resolution.

The effort to disagree formally with the Administration certification was led by Sens. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.).

Helms and Kerry contended that the government of Panama has permitted the country to become a center for the transshipment of illicit drugs and the “laundering” of drug profits.

Other Votes Reported

The vote to table the resolution aimed at Mexico was 49 to 38. And the Senate tabled the Bahamas resolution, 54 to 34.

The Bahamas, Panama and Mexico were on a list of countries the Administration has certified as being cooperative in its war against drugs. Failure to gain certification could cost a nation U.S. foreign aid and other benefits.

But today’s votes were nothing more than symbolic. A 30-day period set aside for the Senate to void the certifications expired at midnight Wednesday. The Senate could, however, move later to make its actions retroactive.

Helms called the Administration’s assertion that the three countries have fully cooperated in the war against drugs “false and inaccurate.”

But other senators, including Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) called the drive to reject the Administration’s findings a counterproductive exercise in “Mexico-bashing” that could seriously damage relations with a close neighbor.