United States Foreign Aid Panama

Congress indicated Thursday that it will act promptly to approve the $1.1-billion package of aid to Panama that President Bush has proposed, providing what the President called "as close to instant relief as we can hope" for Panama's battered economy.

National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft on Saturday disputed the claim of prospective independent presidential contender Ross Perot that the White House sought his help after the invasion of Panama. Scowcroft, in an interview broadcast on CNN, said it was Perot who made the offer to put up money to help rebuild Panama. Bush sent U.S. troops into Panama in December, 1989, to oust dictator Manuel A. Noriega, who was ultimately returned to Miami to face drug charges.

With the fighting in Panama City subsiding, U.S. government and relief agencies are shipping planeloads of medical supplies, food and tents for the thousands of Panamanians left injured or homeless during the invasion, officials said Monday. The threat of hunger and disease remains serious because many people, particularly those living in poor neighborhoods around Panamanian military headquarters devastated by the U.S. forces, lost their homes and possessions in fires that swept the areas.

Six years ago this month, Manuel A. Noriega was identified by major U.S. newspapers as a top drug figure, and the country he ran began an economic and political decline that ended in financial disaster and military ruin. Today, at least economically, Panama is back. By the time American troops invaded in December, 1989, overthrowing Noriega's government and putting him in prison, Panama's economy basically had ceased to exist as a result of a U.S. embargo.

The House gave overwhelming, bipartisan approval Tuesday to $720 million in economic aid for Nicaragua and Panama, meeting President Bush's request for speedy action. But Senate Democratic leaders continued on a partisan course likely to result in funding delays.

Six years ago this month, Manuel A. Noriega was identified by major U.S. newspapers as a top drug figure, and the country he ran began an economic and political decline that ended in financial disaster and military ruin. Today, at least economically, Panama is back. By the time American troops invaded in December, 1989, overthrowing Noriega's government and putting him in prison, Panama's economy basically had ceased to exist as a result of a U.S. embargo.

The Senate on Thursday authorized $770 million in emergency aid for Panama and Nicaragua but put off a vote on actual appropriations until after its Easter recess, despite repeated pleas by President Bush for swifter action. Senate Democratic Leader George J. Mitchell of Maine said the authorization bill was a necessary first step before the Senate could take up the foreign aid money bill when it returns April 18 from its recess, which starts today.

Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) indicated Monday that Congress will withhold a large sum of emergency aid for Panama and Nicaragua until the Administration develops a comprehensive foreign aid plan.

U.S. and Panamanian officials signed an agreement that provides $25.1 million in emergency aid to Panama to help it rebuild from the American invasion Dec. 20. It was the first in a series of aid packages the Administration plans for Panama. But President Guillermo Endara, who is in the seventh day of a hunger strike to protest an attempt by some in the U.S. Congress to cut overall aid for Panama, called for more assistance.

President Bush, facing resistance from a key Democratic senator over the proposed cost, asserted Tuesday that his requested $800-million aid package for Panama and Nicaragua could help bring democracy to Fidel Castro's Cuba. "I'm terribly disappointed that Castro seems to be firming up his totalitarian position instead of moving towards free and fair elections," the President told a bipartisan group of congressional leaders at the White House.

Government officials on Friday demanded to know why tear gas was fired, and in such large quantities, to disperse anti-American demonstrators who disrupted a planned speech by President Bush on Thursday. Vice President Guillermo (Billy) Ford was among the Panamanian officials asking for an investigation. He told a news conference he was not yet blaming police, "but this deserves a major investigation."

The two aging men stood in the center of a large room crowded with stunned diplomats and shouted at each other. One was the American ambassador, the other Panama's foreign minister. It seems that every time they meet these days they end up yelling. "It's embarrassing, on one hand," said a European diplomat who witnessed the confrontation between Ambassador Deane R. Hinton and Panamanian Foreign Minister Julio Linares at a reception at the Vatican Embassy this year.

The people don't applaud U.S. troops so much these days. T-shirts bearing pro-U.S. invasion slogans hang unsold in the shops. And politicians are beginning to think they can make a name for themselves by criticizing U.S. policy. The bloom may not be entirely off the rose, but the petals are fading amid signs of uncertainty in relations between Washington and the coalition government the United States installed after the invasion last December.

Congress, anxious to leave town for a Memorial Day recess, wrapped up work early today on a $4-billion spending bill that includes aid President Bush has urgently sought for new governments in Panama and Nicaragua. The House approved the measure on a 308-108 vote, and the Senate passed it on a voice vote shortly after midnight. The bill now goes to President Bush, who is expected to sign it quickly. The bill also includes millions of dollars for domestic programs in the current fiscal year.

Secretary of State James A. Baker III struck a deal Wednesday with a key lawmaker that signals a sharp future cutback in military aid to El Salvador and assures rapid delivery of $720 million in aid to help restore the ravaged economies of Panama and Nicaragua. Rep. Joe Moakley (D-Mass.) said Baker promised to negotiate in good faith on legislation to slash aid to El Salvador as a protest of human rights abuses by government troops during a 10-year-old civil war with leftist rebels.

President Bush's long-stalled request for emergency aid to Nicaragua and Panama cleared its last major hurdle in Congress on Tuesday, even as the House signaled its impatience with human rights abuses in another Central American country by voting to cut U.S. military aid to El Salvador by 50%.

President Bush on Tuesday proposed cutting the defense budget by $800 million to finance aid to Nicaragua and Panama, and he gave Congress two weeks to negotiate a deal with his aides on which programs to reduce. Nicaragua would receive $300 million of the funds, Bush said. The Administration earlier this year asked for about $500 million in cash aid for Panama.

With deposed Panamanian dictator Manuel A. Noriega locked up in a Miami cell, President Bush said Friday that he will undertake a special effort to mend bruised relations with Latin America and convince the region's leaders that the United States is not reverting to gunboat diplomacy.

Saying that "the situation in Nicaragua is critical" and that the government of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro is "absolutely bankrupt," President Bush demanded Wednesday that Congress remain in session through the Memorial Day vacation, if necessary, to finish work on an emergency aid package for Nicaragua and Panama. "We must not let the procedural gridlock in Congress destroy the hopes of freedom," Bush declared in a news conference.

The Senate, threading its way through a tangle of unrelated amendments, finally approved President Bush's request for emergency aid to Panama and Nicaragua on Tuesday. But the $720-million package still faces a threatened presidential veto over a controversial provision covering abortions in the District of Columbia. The aid package, which contained all but $80 million of the emergency assistance that Bush sought for Panama and Nicaragua, was passed by a voice vote as part of a $3.