World rT By TOM MORRIS Beginning March 12, “Total Warrior”, the first U.S. military exercise since early 1987 in Panama, is the latest pressure tac- tic being applied against the Noriega government by Washington in its efforts to replace him with its own hand-picked choice, former president Arturo Delvalle. The war games, which were to add 650 U.S. National Guardsmen from Florida and Puerto Rico to the 10,000 American troops already stationed in the country, were described by Panama’s Foreign Min- ister, Jorge Abadia, as a violation of the 1978 U.S.-Panama canal treaty and “a prelude to a U.S. invasion of Panama.” Operation Total Warrior can be added to an already blatant effort by the Reagan administration to dump a former USS. friend and to replace him with another who would be more co-operative. For this, the U.S. chose Delvalle, a former sugar company executive and graduate of Loui- siana State University, at the same time convincing Panama’s big business com- munity, despite their dislike of the man, to back him in a bid for power. Many observers have expressed skepti- cism that Noriega’s fall from grace in U'S. eyes is due to the Reagan anti-drug media blitz. The real cause is more likely Pana- ma’s refusal to join in the anti-Sandinista campaign, its friendly ties with Cuba, and the government’s public criticism of U.S. troop build-up in the Panama Canal zone. The drug issue, into which Washington has dragged Nicaragua and Cuba as well as Panama, is seen as a convenient ploy to topple an increasingly unco-operative —— — ens Panama crisis | MANUEL NORIEGA Noriega and, at the same time, raise fears in the U.S. and abroad about the long term safety of “U.S. interests” in the canal —which is scheduled to be turned over to Panama by the year 2000. Bringing the “canal issue” front and centre in the current U.S. presidential election race, Republican front runner George Bush warned: “We’re not going to be pushed around about the defence of the panama canal ~~.” __ The destabilization of Panama fits well into this scenario. The economic war now underway is a classic U.S. opening move to create economic chaos which in turn should cause massive public unrest. With a hand-picked successor (Delvalle) in ARTURO DELVALLE place and the business community on side, Washington keeps turning the screws. It has withheld monies owed under the Canal treaties, frozen Panamanian funds in U.S. banks, refused to recognize Pana- manian representatives abroad, organized strikes in the country — and now adds “Total Warrior” — as it waits for the government to collapse. The brutality with which the United States interferes in the affairs of a sover- eign nation whose government is not to its liking is an object lesson to all of Ameri- ca’s friends and allies — Canada included. The U.S. State Department took upon itself the deciding role in Panamanian affairs. It “certified” its choice for Pana- ma’s ambassador to the U.S., thus giving him control of $50 million in Panamanian funds in U.S. banks. It named its own president (Delvalle) and took his family into the U:S. embassy in Panama City. U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, echoing Reagan, told the world press, “Noriega is a drug runner and he has to go.” But a senior State Department official explained the U.S.’s long association with the general this way: ““What’s changed are politics and Panama — not Noriega.” Politics, indeed, have changed in Panama. Since the 1978 U.S.-Panama canal treaty was signed by the Carte administration, U.S. corporate, military and iight-wing political interests have sought ways to undermine it. Drug run- ning through the Caribbean from South America to the world’s biggest illegal drug customer is old hat, a scenario that today can conveniently be used to destabilize and unseat “unco-operative” foreign governments. It makes good media fodder. It makes good election year politics. It places the Reagan family on the side of the angels in the phoney “‘war” on drugs (while cutting funds for drug rehabilitation programs). It casts Cuba’s Castro and Nicaragua’s Ortega as drug kingpins. And, finally, the current crisis in Panama, planned and manipulated in Washington, can be seen as part of an overall effort by U.S. imperialism to shore up its crumbling hold over Central Amer- ica, a territory long regarded by Washing- ton as a U.S. back yard, not as a group of sovereign nations. Declaration reaffirms Palestinians’ unity The United Leadership of the Uprising “és a broad struggle alliance created by the “Tt is composed of the main effective for- declaration issued in the Gaza Strip and ces in the occupied territories that are circulated widely throughout the Israeli- ’ Palestinian uprising itself”, according to a occupied territories. Demonstrators hold Palestinian flag aloft in face of Israeli repression. represented in the Palestine Liberation Organization — Fatah, the Palestinian Communist Party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paiestine and the Demo- cratic Front — as well as other forces; the National Committee in the Gaza Strip which are widespread in tens of camps, vil- lages and towns, national institutes and per- sonalities, and the religious forces which are committed to the PLO’s program,” the dec- laration stated. “The United Leadership adheres to a uni- ted program that reflects the aspirations of the broad popular masses — the working class, farmers, merchants, doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, public employees, stu- dents, and those sections of the national bourgeoisie which are loyal to the aims of national independence.” According to the declaration, the pro- gram is based on the following principles: @ The PLO is the sole legitimate repre- sentative of the Palestinian people and the expression of their national identity for self- determination and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state; @ The uprising is an advanced stage in the people’s struggle; it continues for the purpose of attaining the following national objectives: 1. Strict commitment to the national rights of the Palestinian people — self- determination, establishment of the inde- pendent state and application of all practical measures needed for convening and preparing the international conference with mandatory powers and with the partic- ipation of the PLO. 2. Assurance of the immediate applica- tion of international measures to protect the Palestinian people who are suffering under occupation, especially the application of the peer &The United Leadership ... is composed of the main effective forces in the occupied territories that are represented in the PLOY Fourth Geneva Convention, including those articles that deal with the illegality of collecting taxes and amending laws by the occupying power. 3. Putting an end to all repressive mea- sures by the occupiers, such as beatings, curfews, violation of the sanctity of holy places and places of worship and houses, and withdrawing Israeli forces outside the cities and populated areas. 4. Releasing all those detained because of the uprising, ending summary courts and ~ trials, returning those who were deported and ending deportations. The United Leadership declaration stressed that the continuation of struggle and adherence to these objectives “will force the occupation forces and U.S. imperialism who support them to retreat. “At the same time it underlines its total rejection of the Camp David course and the Mubarak initiative which seek to abort the uprising, as well as the acceptance by some so-called Palestinian representatives of U.S. orientation that seeks to contain the rights of the Palestinians and disrupt their national unity,” it said. “The United Leadership of the Uprising, which decides the forms and needs of the uprising in accordance with the concrete situation in the occupied territories, salutes our heroic people who have not been intim- idated by the repressive zionist campaigns. On the contrary, the repression has increased our determination... .”