Old Glory Coming Down in Panama

QUARRY HEIGHTS, Panama — Eighty-one years of tradition will end Thursday when the United States Southern Command lowers the American flag for the last time over the post that has been the U.S. military headquarters in Latin America.

SouthCom, the most controversial remaining symbol of American hegemony in the region, is moving to Miami.

Watching SouthCom depart, Panamanians are of two minds. For reasons of national pride, they see the departure as a sign that the United States will honor its commitment to relinquish control of the Panama Canal on Dec. 31, 1999.

But Panamanians also are worried that they won’t be able to replace the $370 million--15% of Panama’s economy--that SouthCom spends here each year. And key to that will be how Panama decides to use the 93,000 acres of land that the United States is gradually returning to the Central American nation.

“Panama is fully capable of managing the canal and defending it,” said Col. David Hunt, U.S. co-chairman of the joint committee that coordinates the return of the military property to Panama.

All of that land--once the U.S.-controlled Canal Zone, a 10-mile strip on each side of the waterway--will be in Panamanian hands by 1999.

“We are going to make this work,” Hunt vowed. He spoke in a conference room where every chair, table and photograph was marked with a masking tape number in preparation for next week’s move. “We are going to make sure that, as we draw down, we help Panama utilize the property.”

Nearly one-third of the land is already under Panamanian control. The old School of the Americas, where Latin American military officers were trained in anti-Communist techniques, is being remodeled into a resort hotel. Ft. Davis, once an infantry base, is now an industrial park. An international tennis school gives lessons on the former military tennis courts on Curundu Flats.

Soon, the Panamanians plan to turn Albrook Air Force Base into a new domestic airport. Ft. Clayton will become the City of Knowledge, a collection of university branches, research institutes and other organizations dedicated to learning.

And Panama’s Foreign Ministry will take over the SouthCom headquarters building, inaugurated in 1916 as the headquarters for U.S. troops in the Panama Canal Zone.

Not all of the land being returned to Panama can be used. About 11,000 acres, much of it dense jungle, had been used for firing ranges and still contains some live ammunition.

As land is turned over, U.S. troops have been reduced from 10,500 in February 1994 to 5,600 currently. By Oct. 1, only 4,400 will be left.

However, it is not clear whether the last American soldier will leave Panama at the end of 1999. The United States and Panama are negotiating both a regional anti-narcotics center and the continued presence of U.S. troops. Those are sensitive issues in a country that abolished its own army in 1991 and has deeply resented U.S. domination since the first U.S. Marines arrived in 1903 to protect the Panama railroad, a precursor to the American-built canal.

“Nothing prohibits the stationing of U.S. troops in Panama after 1999,” Hunt said. However, he added, the United States will not retain any property or buildings. “We will stay as guests,” he said.