US open to reconciliation with Panama over 1989 invasion
Date
2/17/2016 9:08:23 AM
(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
A relative of a victim of the 1989 US invasion of Panama pays a visit to the grave of her loved one at a cemetery in Panama City (AFP Photo/Juan Jose Rodriguez)
Panama City:The United States is willing to take part in a reconciliation process with Panama over its 1989 invasion of the Central American nation Washington's new ambassador here said Tuesday.
John Feeley the new US envoy said any review of a request for help from Panama would be carried out "in the spirit of friendship and coordination and collaboration that we have developed since 1989."
"Should the (Panamanian) government ask for any help we are completely ready to look at it" Feeley told reporters in response to a question after presenting his diplomatic credentials to Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela.
The US military invaded Panama on December 20 1989 with the stated aims of protecting Americans living there curbing drug trafficking and to ensure the neutrality of the Panama Canal.
American forces captured dictator Manuel Noriega who had previously worked with the CIA.
Noriega was taken to the United States where he was convicted and imprisoned on drug trafficking and money laundering charges. He is now in a Panamanian prison serving time for crimes committed during his rule.
While many Panamanians welcomed the end of Noriega's reign there have also been insistent calls for compensation from the US for the deaths and damage wrought in the invasion.
The Panamanian government has not formally backed those demands but it is pushing the reconciliation effort.
To that end officials have met families of those killed and other people affected by the US invasion and with international rights experts.
Officially the US Defense Department recorded some 500 deaths in the invasion. But other organizations put the toll at a several thousand.
Thousands of people lost their homes and many businesses were destroyed.
Feeley a career diplomat and former Marine said "light and truth are the best disinfectants and every people has a right to know its past."
AFP