From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: PANAMA: THE U.S. PROBLEM THAT WON'T GO AWAY
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 1992 09:23:24 GMT

/** reg.panama: 24.0 **/
** Topic: PANAMA: THE U.S. PROBLEM THAT WON'T **
** Written  9:09 pm  Mar 29, 1992 by hrcoord in cdp:reg.panama **
From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: PANAMA: THE U.S. PROBLEM THAT WON'T

/* Written  6:03 pm  Mar 29, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: PANAMA: THE U.S. PROBLEM THAT WON'T GO AWAY

an inter press service feature

by michael malone

miami, mar 26 (ips) -- if panamanian general manuel noriega is the
problem that would not go away for the united states, his trial
has likewise become the one that would never end.

when the defence rested its case mar. 9, the government's
rebuttal was expected to include only a handful of witnesses and
end within a week. that ''handful'' has now reached 11, with at
least five witnesses still to go and final arguments now slated
for apr. 2.

an indictment filed in miami feb. 1988 charged noriega with
using his influence to allow the colombian medellin cartel to
operate in panama while enriching himself with money from drug
trafficking and money-laundering crimes.

the u.s. government alleges the panamanian general, who faces a
maximum of 140 years if convicted on all 10 criminal counts, knew
the drugs were destined for the united states.

at times during the six-month trial, however, it seemed less
noriega and more the country of panama and its citizens that were
being accused. allegations against the general include
lawlessness, incompetence, and turning a blind eye to
international drug traffickers.

the u.s. government has insisted from the outset that 'the
united states vs. noriega' is not a political trial, but ''merely
a drug trial''.

in an attempt to prove their case to the nearly all-black jury
(seven women and two men of the 12 permanent jurors are african-
american), the prosecution called 45 witnesses, many of them
panamanians, who had worked with or benefited from the noriega
regime in panama.

the government's star witness is pilot floyd carlton caceres,
who testifed that he flew four planeloads of cocaine from colombia
to panama and paid noriega 100,000 to 250,000 dollars for ''safe
passage'' of each flight.

carlton is described as a close friend of noriega's -- the two
met when carlton was shining shoes in chiriqui, a northwestern
province in panama, years before he bought four homes and a fleet
of 'bmws'.

panama: the u.s. problem that won't go away(2)

panama: the u.s. (2)

judging from the prosecution's questioning, chiriqui was the
'washington, d.c.' of panama, a hotbed of insiders and power
brokers. noriega's 'inner circle' was composed almost exclusively
of 'chiricanos', claimed lead prosecutors michael 'pat' sullivan,
myles malman and guy lewis.

prosecutors questioned every panamanian witness exhaustively on
their ''chiriqui connection'', and journalists covering the trial
have speculated that the chiriqui link may be the only one to
stick on noriega when the final verdict is read.

in the meantime, panamanian friendships have suffered. former
allies, panamanian defence force (pdf) colleagues and associates
of noriega have been called to testify against him in exchange for
light sentences and other benefits offered by the u.s. government.

judge william hoeveler's rulings have left little room for the
introduction of politically related matters. in response, defence
lawyers frank rubino and jon may streamlined their strategy and
have insisted that gen. noriega was simply assisting the drug
enforcement agency (dea) and central intelligence agency (cia).

if he was involved with the cartel or met with president fidel
castro in cuba, it was to collect information that he later
relayed to his u.s. intelligence counterparts, they said. noriega
supplied the information, but often the dea did nothing with it,
not even share it with the cia, defence testimony indicated.

the prosecution has protested that such cooperation was not the
case. noriega helped, but only to waylay attention or for personal
gain. if dea and cia chiefs wrote letters lauding noriega's
assistance, they were only standard form letters, the prosecution
claims.

the pdf never called u.s. agencies to participate in the
investigations, and it only shared unimportant information, which
did not help much, testified dea and cia officials from the stand.

''did the dea have any right to be in panama, or in any other
country in the world for that matter? or were they there because
the panamanian government allowed them to be?'' defence lawyer
rubino repeatedly asked of witnesses.

''was the pdf supposed to drop whatever investigations of
matters internal to the sovereign, independent country of panama
to inform the dea?'' asked the defence. prosecutors objected
repeatedly, and judge hoeveler sustained the objections. rubino's
question has yet to be answered.

panama: the u.s. problem that won't go away(3-e)

panama: the u.s. (3)

with the end of the trial now in sight, the judge has asked,
but not insisted, that the jurors be sequestered during the
deliberation process. in such a case, the jury would stay at a
nearby hotel, send out for meals, and deliberate from nine a.m. to
six p.m. monday through friday until a unanimous verdict is
reached on each separate count.

if the jury cannot arrive at a verdict, it could be declared a
'hung' jury, thus requiring the entire process to begin anew.
(end/ips/ip/mm/lp/yjc/92)

** End of text from cdp:reg.panama **

Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive