U.S. PAYMENT OF VISITING PANAMANIAN JOURNALISTS' EXPENSES Senator STONE. Mr. Green, you stated that the U.S. Government has paid the expenses of visiting Panamanian journalists who lecture in the United States. Do you have any lists or facts? Mr. GREEN. I don't have them with me. Mrs. FULTON. The Embassy could give you a list because they regularly round them up and let them come up here; they pay their expenses. They inform the American people about Panama's just aspirations. But we are not allowed to go into Panama, or if we did it would be at personal risk, and talk to Panamanians on a similar topic. HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN PANAMA Senator STONE. I asked Ambassador Jorden, our U.S. Ambassador to Panama, if he had seen the three-volume report or study published by the Panamanian Committee for Human Rights, and he answered, "Yes; I have." Then I asked him, "Do you still believe the human rights situation in Panama is better than many or most of the other Latin American countries?" Ambassador Jorden then said, "Yes, sir, I do. I think those studies are not factually accurate in many cases and are exaggerated. I think that they are a political document, not a human rights document, aimed at denigrating the Government of Panama and preventing the passage of this treaty." Do any of you have any personal knowledge of human rights problems in Panama? Mrs. FULTON. Yes. In fact, we have copies of these we are submitting along with our information. [The information referred to is in the committee's files.] Senator STONE. Is the Ambassador's assessment correct in your view that the human rights situation is better in Panama than elsewhere in Latin America? Mrs. FULTON. I have had regular discussions and dialog with members of the political section. They will say to me, "After all, it is not as bad as Chile; they are not killing 2,000 at a time. Your attitude is that the human rights violations are bad in themselves." One person being killed for political reasons, or whatever arbitrary whims of the government, is bad. If we are negotiating a treaty with this country, we need to take these things into consideration. We are doing an injustice to the Panamanian people by confirming this man in power who will go on with this reign of terror. One of the reasons you have not heard more vocal opposition to the treaty when Torrijos permitted it is that the people are scared because the Guardia has the guns. They know people are disappearing. People are pushed out of helicopters. I have an eyewitness who heard a conversation between a G-2 agent and a suspect who was being questioned about a robbery. The Panamanian suspect was not being very cooperative about where the article was that was taken. out of the car. There was someone from the zone sitting in the room and listening to the G-2 agent saying, "You want a free ride to Conta dora Island and you won't come back?" He was referring pushing the suspect out of the plane. They have a large number of torture devices. It is quietly done and nothing appears about it in the newspaper. It has to be communicated by word of mouth. Mr. FATTOROSI. Last March, Martin Howell, a member of Congressman John Murphy's staff, was in the Canal Zone for a conference. He askad the same question. He received from a Canal Zone detective detailed cases, recently detailed cases, of violations of human rights. This was taken down in shorthand and on tape. This could be made available to you on request. Senator STONE. This is Congressman Murphy's staff member? Mr. FATTOROSI. Congressman John Murphy's staff member, Mr. Martin Howell. ALLEGATIONS CONCERNING COMMUNISTS IN GOVERNMENT Senator STONE. In your statement you say that four members of the Panamanian negotiating team, and you name them, have Communist affiliations, sympathies, or connections; and you allege that the Vice President of Panama has been a courier for the Communist Party. Do you have any evidence of that or is this just your opinion? Mrs. FULTON. It is not my opinion. This is the opinion of Panamanians who have been familiar with political activities and know what he has been involved in. We are submitting with our material a document called "The Communist Path to Power," written by a Panamanian in which he describes the various Panamanians in the Government. This is knowledge I would not have personally. It would have to come from a Panamanian source. Senator STONE. You are alleging that Mr. Gonzales, the Panamanian Vice President; Mr. Escobar Betancourt, the chief negotiator; Mr. Adolfo Ahumada, the Minister of Labor; and Mr. Aristides Royo, the Minister of Education, all either have Communist affiliations, symphathies, or connections? Which of them have only sympathies and which of them have affiliations or connections? Mrs. FULTON. A Communist in Panama is not going to be identified by a badge or card. They are known by the company they keep, by their activities, by their political attitudes and political history. I have friends who have gone to the university with some of these men who have had these allegations made about them. I am basing this on the credibility of Panamanians and on documents. We could probably furnish additional documentation if you need. In fact, Escobar Bethancourt is an avowed Communist. I don't think he has made a secret of it. Senator STONE. You allege also that General Torrijos' brother-inlaw and his cousin are two key Communists in the Government and that one of them set up a Communist-controlled Guardia training school at the Rio Hato air base. Mrs. FULTON. Right. Senator STONE. And that this agency is DIGEDEOM. Mrs. FULTON. It is an acronym for an agency that was created in order to filter down to all the levels of the population with propaganda and retraining including reorganization of the school curriculum. ALLEGATION CONCERNING PANAMANIAN REQUEST FOR CUBAN ADVISERS Senator STONE. You allege that the Panamanian Government has requested Cuban advisers to come to Panama to teach the Government how to set up neighborhood committees to facilitate the Government control of people on the local level? Do you have any evidence of that? Mrs. FULTON. This would come from the Panamanian newspapers. We can get this for you. Senator STONE. This was published in the Panamanian newspapers? Mrs. FULTON. They will not say "neighborhood committees, so that we can control the people." But there are articles which appear regularly which show that they are looking to Cuba for advice, help, counsel, and applying things that would work in Cuba. Senator STONE. You have been asked a number of questions and my time is almost up. Believe it or not, I am going to limit myself. I would ask you if any of these questions has prompted anything else you would like to say to the committee or to the Senate before we conclude this hearing. PANAMANIANS' ABILITY TO BE TRAINED Mr. FATTOROSI. I would like to say I believe the Panamanians are able to be trained to take over the canal if enough Americans could be persuaded to train them. This is a subsidiary issue. I certainly think that it goes without saying that they are trainable. Senator STONE. Anyone else? BASIS OF WITNESSES' VIEWS Mrs. FULTON. I would like to add one comment. Our views are not based on trying to save a homeland or a precious way of life. There are many of us who are ready to go today, if necessary, and relocate in the United States. I have lived there for 11 years. Although I am ready to leave, I am still concerned about the working of the canal and the implications of this particular treaty, what will be the outcome after the treaty is ratified and put into force, the effect on world shipping. We live in the area. We know more about it as a canal. We are not at a policymaking level of course. We can see some real pitfalls. We feel the State Department, in trying to sell a treaty, has been devising myths to sell it to the American people. We were astounded when the negotiators came in on a Sunday night and said: "We are going to have this treaty finished by Wednesday," which happens to be the same night that Linowitz ran out. They came out with the treaty. One State Department official said this to me. He said: "When you want something badly enough you get it bad enough." We have read the treaty. We are not writing letters to Senators based on hearsay. We have read it and got copies. We have sent them to Senators and Congressmen. We are appalled at some of the sloppiness, ambiguity and loopholes and problems and headaches that will devolve on the U.S. Government long after this thing goes into effect. Senator STONE. Ladies and gentlemen, we thank you for coming here and presenting your opinions, your judgment and your testimony. This hearing is adjourned until 9 a.m. tomorrow morning. [Whereupon, at 3:20 p.m., the committee adjourned, subject to the call of the Chair.] PANAMA CANAL TREATIES TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1977 UNITED STATES SENATE, Washington, D.C. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:07 a.m., in room 318 Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. John Sparkman (chairman of the committee) presiding. Present: Senators Sparkman, Pell, McGovern, Clark, Biden, Stone, Sarbanes, Case, Percy, and Baker. OPENING STATEMENT Senator MCGOVERN [now presiding]. I think the committee ought to go ahead. We are still missing one of our panelists, but if Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Dozer, and Mr. Tambs will please come forward, we will begin. When Professor Dominguez gets here, we will add him to the panel. I will ask each of the panelists to deliver his prepared statement. I will remind you, gentlemen, because of the time constraints involved, please hold your opening presentations to about 10 minutes each so that we will have some time for followup questions. We will begin with Dr. Abraham Lowenthal of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. Dr. Lowenthal, we welcome you to the committee this morning. [Mr. Lowenthal's biography follows:] BIOGRAPHY OF ABRAHAM F. LOWENTHAL Born: April 6, 1941, in Hyannis, Mass. Education: Public Schools of Leominster, Mass., A. B. Harvard College, 1961 (magna cum laude in History). Harvard Law School 1961-62 (completed 1 year on top one-third of class). M.P.A. Graduate School of Public Administration, Harvard University, 1964. Ph. D., Harvard University (Political Science) 1971. PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT September 1964-August 1966: Training Associate, Ford Foundation, Santiago, Dominican Republic. June 1969-June 1972: Assistant Representative, Acting Representative, and Social Science Program Advisor, Ford Foundation, Lima, Peru. September 1972-June 1974: Visiting Fellow and Research Associate, Center of International Studies, Princeton University, and Lecturer on Latin American and International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University. July 1974-August 1975: Council on Foreign Relations. New York, Assistant Director of Studies, Acting Director of Studies, Director of Studies. Visiting Fellow, Center of International Studies, Princeton University. |