U.S. Policy in Central America
My letter is in response to your front page article “Reagan Rules Out Force in Panama--But Still Recognizes the Ousted President” by Paul Houston and Melissa Healy (Feb. 27).
America sleeps with dictators to spy on communism. When the Pentagon needed intelligence on Nicaragua, it turned to strongman Manuel Noriega. But with all this publicity something may “happen” to the Panamanian general. Has Noriega pondered his future with the U.S.? He needs only recall the examples of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, Francois and Jean-Claude Duvalier in Haiti, and Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (the Shah of Iran); after all, with Noriega gone the Pentagon can always fund illegal operations in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Ironically, where there is no army and little U.S. intelligence we find peace and democracy: Costa Rica.
ERIC RIGNEY
Venice
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