Rumsfeld, Panamanian president
meet on security issues
US Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld on
Saturday held talks here with
Panamanian President Martin
Torrijos on bilateral and
regional security issues.
The two countries should sign
regional security agreements
aimed at reducing
drug-trafficking, terrorism and
other threats in Latin America
and the Caribbean, Rumsfeld
said.
"This collaboration will bolster
the security of the Western
Hemisphere," he said.
Rumsfeld, who started his Latin
American tour on Thursday,
arrived in Panama Saturday, the
last leg of his tour that has
taken him to El Salvador and
Nicaragua.
On Sunday, Rumsfeld will end his
Panama trip and leave for Quito,
capital of Ecuador, to
participate in the 6th
Conference of Defense Ministers
of the Americas, scheduled for
Nov. 16-21.
The United States withdrew its
troops in 1999 from the Panama
Canal and granted the control
and administration of the
infrastructure to the Panamanian
government in accordance with
the Torrijos-Carter treaties in
1977.
Washington has kept vigilance
over the canal, which is one of
the vital routes for world
trade, in view of possible
terrorist attacks on it.
Panamanian
president hails Mexico-Central
America summit
Panamanian President
Martin Torrijos has termed as
"very positive" the meeting of
leaders of Mexico and five
Central American countries held
Friday in the southeast Mexican
city of Tuxtla Gutierrez.
The leaders have been committed
to keeping the dynamics of the
so-called Plan Puebla-Panama
project, Torrijos said in a
communique released by the
President's Office Saturday.
The plan, proposed by Mexican
President Vicente Fox shortly
after he took office in 2000, is
a development and
regional-integration project
containing accords on
improvement of road, energy and
telecommunications
infrastructure. It covers areas
from Mexico's southern state
Puebla to Panama.
In addition to Torrijos, the
leaders of Mexico, Costa Rica,
El Salvador, Guatemala and
Honduras took part in the
one-day summit, in which the six
presidents discussed ways to
boost their economies and stop
the flow of illegal migrants
northward to the United States.
The next summit between Mexico
and Central America will be held
in December in El Salvador,
Torrijos said.
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Venezuelan president accepts
resignation of health minister
Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez has accepted the
resignation of Health and Social
Development Minister Roger
Capella due to the delay in
payment to the "Barrio Adentro"
health mission.
The resignation was presented on
Thursday after nurses of Barrio
Adentro protested for not being
paid since July, Communication
and Information Minister Andres
Izarra was quoted by Saturday's
local daily El Nacional as
saying.
Reina Martinez, spokeswoman for
the nurses of Barrio Adentro,
thanked Chavez on behalf of the
people involved in Barrio
Adentro for taking the decision.
Besides Capella, two more
ministers have resigned due to
the crisis in the administration
of Barrio Adentro.
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