U.S.-Panama Trade
Pact Looks Shaky
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.
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