Panama Leader Rejects Talks on U.S. Base

President Guillermo Endara said he will not accept a request by the U.S. Senate to negotiate for a permanent U.S. military base in Panama.

“Guillermo Endara is not going to renegotiate or accept renegotiation of the operation of the canal or U.S. military bases,” Endara told reporters late Thursday.

Under the 1977 Panama Canal Treaties, no U.S. troops are to remain in Panama after Dec. 31, 1999, when full control of the canal is to be handed over to Panama.

Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed an amendment to a foreign aid bill that included a request for negotiations between the two countries on a permanent U.S. military base.

The amendment said U.S. forces would offer the best defense against disruption and closure of the canal.

Idaho Republican Larry Craig proposed the amendment and said five Panamanian legislators supported the idea.

But Endara said Panamanian lawmakers may only ratify treaties, and that the president alone has the power to sign or renegotiate international agreements.

In another development, a 10-day strike by transport workers has crippled Panama’s duty-free trading center and is beginning to worry public officials, merchants and shippers discouraged by government inaction to the stoppage.

Striking workers of trucking cooperatives in the Atlantic port city of Colon are angered by government attempts to let merchants move their own goods to and from the nearby port of Cristobal.