September 11,
2001
Narco News 2001
U.S.
Troops Head
to Panama
Canal
Translated from
El Universal
September 11, 2001, 2:08
p.m., Panama City: United States troops
headed to Panama, according to local media, while the U.S. embassy
in Panama City was evacuated as a preventative security measure,
after the attacks perpetrated in New York and Washington.
Local media revealed unofficial reports
that a U.S. military contingent rushed toward Panama from Puerto
Rico to protect the Panama Canal and North American interests.
The United States army retired from Panama
in 1999, in compliance with a bilateral treaty, but is allowed
to return under the Neutrality Treaty to protect the canal during
any situation of danger.
The sources indicate that the United States
troops will arrive today, by sea and by air.
Narco News Follow-Up: U.S. Secretary of State Colin
Powell was in Lima, Peru, this morning as the attacks on the
Pentagon, the State Department, the World Trade Towers in New
York and possibly other targets occured.
According to Latin American
press reports, the U.S. Secretary of State was evacuated from
the National Palace.
Powell - see our story
below from last week - was in Panama at Howard Air Base earlier
this month in a secret mission that the State Department still
has not explained.
Another press report places
U.S. President George Bush at a military base in Louisiana, on
the Gulf of Mexico, after flying from Florida this morning.
At this point, lacking
further information, we can not make any speculation about the
potential meaning of so much official U.S. activity in or near
Latin America that is reportedly occuring in the wake of the
day's events.
We will continue monitoring
the América region for new information and translating
it for our readers.
Our previous
story of September 3rd...
Powell Made
Secret
Panama Trip
U.S.
Official Went to Air Base Last Week
A Narco News Global Alert
Narco News Commentary: How
is it that the most recognized United States official on earth
can sneak in and out of Panama - and possibly, as today's story
in the Panamá América newspaper reveals,
was in Colombia, too - and not a word from the Washington reporters
who cover the State Department, nor the U.S. correspondents in
Latin America?
And why was the trip made
secretly, without alerting the press?
And why did the U.S. Embassy
deny, once asked by the Panamanian press, that Powell was in
Panama?
What is known is that
Powell was in Panama this week, and possibly in Colombia; that
Washington speaks of peace in Colombia but plots for war; and
that the U.S. government has been seeking an Air Base in a country
near Colombia from which to wage a military intervention with
the pretext of the "war on drugs."
That Powell's trip was
made in secret speaks volumes about the true agenda of Washington.
The "drug war" is about to go "boom."
Colin
Powell Makes
"Discreet"
Trip to Panama
By the Editors
El Panamá América, September 3, 2001
Original story in Spanish online at:
Translated by The Narco
News Bulletin
U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell made
a "discreet" trip to Panama last week and held brief,
but important, meetings with Panamanian officials, according
to a government official.
The details and themes of the meetings
were not given. However, according to the course, the U.S. foreign
minister traveled to some of the old United States military installations
in Panama. Among them, he visited the former Howard Air Base.
El Panama América left a message
in the voice mail of the cell phone of assistant secretary of
state, Harmodio Arias, to ask for the official version of the
presence by Powell in Panama. But the official did not respond.
The United States Embassy denied that
Powell had been in Panamanian territory last week. "We can
confirm for you that Mr. Powell was not in Panama," said
a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy.
According to the first reports, Powell's
visit could be related to a trip that he made to Colombia to
reiterate the continued support by the U.S. government to the
Colombian efforts against narco-trafficking, strengthening democratic
institutions and promoting social and economic development.
It also fits to say that Powell will not
be present at the racism conference that the United Nations is
holding in Durban, South Africa, since last Friday, owing to
its criticisms against Israel.
Doing the Job
that the U.S. Correspondents Don't Do