IV
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. CON. RES. 233
Urging the President to negotiate a new base rights agreement with the
Government of Panama in order for United States Armed Forces to
be stationed in Panama after December 31, 1999.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 17, 1999
Mrs. MYRICK submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on International Relations, and in addition to
the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Urging the President to negotiate a new base rights agree-
ment with the Government of Panama in order for
United States Armed Forces to be stationed in Panama
after December 31, 1999.
Whereas the Panama Canal remains a vital economic and
strategic asset to the United States, its allies, and the
world;
Whereas the United States has maintained a military pres-
ence in Panama since Panama gained its independence in
1903, ensuring the protection of the Canal and its unfet-
tered operations;
•HCON 233 IH
Whereas the United States Armed Forces have depended
upon the Panama Canal for rapid transit in times of
global conflict, including during World War II, the Ko-
rean War, the Vietnam War, the Cuban Missile Crisis,
and the Persian Gulf War;
Whereas the 1977 Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neu-
trality and Operation of the Panama Canal provides that
Panama and the United States have the joint responsi-
bility to ensure that the Panama Canal will remain open
and secure, and provides that each signatory, in accord-
ance with their constitutional processes, shall defend the
Canal against any threat to its neutrality and shall have
the right to act against threats against the peaceful tran-
sit of vessels through the Canal;
Whereas the Government of Panama, in the bilateral Protocol
of Exchange of instruments of ratification, agreed to con-
sider negotiating future arrangements or agreements to
maintain military forces necessary to fulfill the responsi-
bility of both signatories to maintain the neutrality of the
Canal;
Whereas the common interests of Panama and the United
States have produced close relations between the two na-
tions and a shared interest in protecting the Canal and
its operations;
Whereas public opinion surveys in Panama consistently dem-
onstrate that an estimated 70 percent of the people of
Panama support a continued United States military pres-
ence in Panama;
Whereas Panama and the United States are both confronting
growing problems with illegal drug trafficking, money
laundering, and narcoterrorism in the Western Hemi-
•HCON 233 IH
sphere, and those problems threaten peace and security
in the region;
Whereas facilities now utilized by the United States Armed
Forces in Panama are essential to the coordination of
any counter-narcotic efforts in the region; and
Whereas the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC), a narco-trafficking terrorist organization, is op-
erating from Panamanian territory and poses a risk to
the security of Panama and to the stability of Latin
America: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that—
(1) the President should negotiate a new base
rights agreement with the newly inaugurated Gov-
ernment of Panama—
(A) to permit stationing of United States
Armed Forces in Panama beyond December 31,
1999; and
(B) to ensure that the Panama Canal re-
mains open, secure, and neutral, consistent with
the Panama Canal Treaty, the Treaty Con-
cerning the Permanent Neutrality and Oper-
ation of the Panama Canal, and the resolutions
of ratification thereto;
(2) the President should ensure that United
States military facilities which could be utilized for
stationing of United States Armed Forces shall be