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1. Within Latin America only Chile exceeded Panama ’s economic growth rate from 1990 to 2005. “Eaton: No revocamos visas caprichosamente,” La Prensa (Panama) (hereafter cited as LP [PA]), 31 O ctober 2006, 4A. For all of the trafficking elsewhere in Central America, Panamanians certainly might claim to live in the most important transshipment location for criminal groups moving drugs to North American and European markets. Yet, once again, the profile of Panamanian society differs in interesting respects from those of its neighbors. An economist would immediately note that Panama’s annual growth rate has routinely led, and sometimes far outpaced, those of the other countries in the region.1 A sociologist might add that with the exception of a handful of families at the pinnacle of society, social hierarchies have tended to be less rigid than those of its neighbors, and the middle class, larger. Panamanians have also tended to be better educated than the average Central American, a consequence of an emphasis on literacy, more public funds spent on schooling, a large university, and, normally, more freedom of expression. Political scientists and historians might emphasize that, of our five case studies, Panama has also had the most complex and multilayered relationship with the United States, one with its own tensions and conflicts. In fact, the U.S. government has long riveted economic and geopolitical attention on Panama. It has not been the Panama Canal alone that has ensured that the country’s strategic importance has dwarfed its negligible military power and small population of just over 3.1 mi llion. Although for many decades U.S. soldiers were ostensibly present to defend the canal, in reality, the nine U.S. military bases were put to broader purposes. From 1963 to 1997 the Canal Zone was headquarters for the Southern Command, responsible for U.S. military affairs in Latin America and the Panama 6 3 1 0 BRIBES , BULLE T S , A N D I N T I M I D A T I O N 2. See Hersh, “Panama Strongman Said to Trade in Drugs, Arms, and Illicit Money,” New York Times (United States) (hereafter cited as NYT [US]), 2 June 1986, 1A; Kempe, Divorcing the Dictator, 301; Shannon, Desperados, 165; and Buckley, Panama, 19. 3. See Koster and Sánchez, In the Time, 204, and “U.S. Probes Panama Strongman on Drug Ties,” Washington Post (United States) (hereafter cited as WP [US]), 11 N ovember 1987, A1. 4. See Clark and Horrock, Contrabandista, 81. A Panamanian historian wrote, “Contrabanding and smuggling have in Panama such power we cannot consider it to be a marginal activity practiced by a small group of marginal persons in a clandestine way.” Pérez, “Drugs,” 150. Caribbean. The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) used high-technology equipment to overhear targeted conversations, with personnel on the bases analyzing as well as gathering intelligence.2 Unlike other Central American states, Panama suffered neither from a cold war civil war nor its aftermath. However, regional conflict in the 1980s did fan fears within the U.S. government that communism might spread through Central America and perhaps even threaten the canal. Thus, for a period U.S. foreign aid into Panama surged, increasing from $12 million in 1984 to $75 million the following year, and amounting to $150 million over the period from 1983 to 1987.3 Nevertheless, in contrast to the largely subservient role of the Honduran armed forces, Panama’s military regime took a more Machiavellian and independent-minded approach, regularly supplying weapons in Latin American wars and collecting payoffs for providing intelligence and other services. Indeed, through much of the twentieth century, Panama stood as Latin America’s unparalleled center of intrigue and espionage. Panamanian elites frequently assisted South Americans in contrabandista schemes involving the import of luxury items without payment of duties.4 The U.S. antidrug office, established in 1972, was the first in Central America, predating even the existence of the DEA. For many years Palestinian, Colombian, and Salvadoran C O L O M B I A C O S T A R I C A P A N A M Á LOS SANTOS C H I R I Q U Í D A R I É N B O C A S D E L T O R O V E R A G U A S C O C L É N G Ö B E - B U G L É K U N A Y A L A HERRERA C O L...

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