September 11, 2001

Narco News 2001

U.S. Troops Head

to Panama Canal

Translated from El Universal

September 11, 2001, 2:08 p.m., Panama City: United States troops headed to Panama, according to local media, while the U.S. embassy in Panama City was evacuated as a preventative security measure, after the attacks perpetrated in New York and Washington.

Local media revealed unofficial reports that a U.S. military contingent rushed toward Panama from Puerto Rico to protect the Panama Canal and North American interests.

The United States army retired from Panama in 1999, in compliance with a bilateral treaty, but is allowed to return under the Neutrality Treaty to protect the canal during any situation of danger.

The sources indicate that the United States troops will arrive today, by sea and by air.

Narco News Follow-Up: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was in Lima, Peru, this morning as the attacks on the Pentagon, the State Department, the World Trade Towers in New York and possibly other targets occured.

According to Latin American press reports, the U.S. Secretary of State was evacuated from the National Palace.

Powell - see our story below from last week - was in Panama at Howard Air Base earlier this month in a secret mission that the State Department still has not explained.

Another press report places U.S. President George Bush at a military base in Louisiana, on the Gulf of Mexico, after flying from Florida this morning.

At this point, lacking further information, we can not make any speculation about the potential meaning of so much official U.S. activity in or near Latin America that is reportedly occuring in the wake of the day's events.