PANAMA CITY — In June 1992, on the eve of a visit by President George H.W. Bush, U.S. Army Cpl. Zak Hernandez was shot to death by a group of assailants near the Panama Canal. One of the killers, according to the U.S. government, was the man recently elected president of this country's National Assembly.
The political ascension of Pedro Miguel Gonzalez has generated outrage in the U.S. Congress and in the current Bush administration and could scuttle a free trade agreement between the United States and Panama.
Publicly, Bush administration officials are using restrained language to describe the reduced chances for the treaty, which took four years of negotiations and until last month seemed a sure bet for passage, even by a U.S. Congress that has grown leery of such trade deals.
"It's deeply troubling and we have communicated that to the Panamanian government," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday in Washington.
Rice expressed that displeasure to Panamanian President Martin Torrijos last week when he made a second visit to Washington to discuss Gonzalez, who is a member of Torrijos' Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD.
Gonzalez, who was absolved of killing the 22-year-old soldier by a Panamanian court in 1997, is the son of Gerardo Gonzalez, the late anti-U.S. president of the PRD and supporter of Torrijos. Attempts to reach Pedro Miguel Gonzalez for comment Wednesday were not successful.
-- Strategically important
Gonzalez's election has put the Bush administration in an awkward position as it tries to rally congressional and public support for free trade deals with Peru, Panama, Colombia and South Korea amid growing disenchantment. The House is expected to vote on the U.S.-Peru accord in the next month, with a Senate vote to follow.
A trade agreement with Panama was seen by the Bush administration as a way to strengthen economic ties with a small but strategically crucial neighbor, home of the Panama Canal, and to encourage rule of law. But observers see little chance of passage as long as Gonzalez remains assembly president.
U.S. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Finance Committee, said in a statement that Gonzalez's election was "a serious impediment to the U.S. Congress' consideration of the U.S.-Panama Free Trade Agreement. Members are watching closely and are taking this development into account."
