En Marcha
Organ of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador
February 19-24, 1988
These words of General Torrijos remain recorded by history to expose the lies of the opportunists who today claim without blushing that, if Torrijos were alive... he would have accepted the Multilateral Anti-Drug Center:
"They want to maintain some type of presence here after the year 2000. This can not happen! And I will not commit the irresponsible act of signing anything that would authorize the first intervention of the 21st century. This I will not sign. We will not give them anything signed that would sanctify the first intervention in Panama of the 21st century." (Omar Torrijos, January 25, 1987).
The Committee to Recover Panama's Sovereignty declares:
"For generations, we Panamanians have struggled for the achievement of our complete sovereignty. Nevertheless, today there is presented to Panamanians citizens, as a bad joke, the possible establishment of a so-called Multilateral Anti-Drug Center (M.A.C.), which is in no way multilateral because it is being negotiated only between the present government of Panama and the U.S., and whose true intention is to perpetuate the military presence of the U.S. on our territory.
"This 'Center,' which would supposedly defend the world against drug-trafficking from our country and utilizing existing military bases on our territory with soldiers of the U.S., HAS NO CREDIBILITY. If they really want to fight the drug-traffic effectively, they would begin from their own house and in their own house, in which is the majority of traffic and of consumers (40 MILLION according to official figures of the U.S. government itself). For this and many other reasons, there is on a world level a great disbelief in the anti-drug policies of the U.S. while here in Panama, citizens who a few years ago expressed their "unshakable" position of not yielding even an inch of our national sovereignty, are succumbing to their personal interests and have become "defenders" of the M.A.C. project.
No sector, no government, should abrogate the sovereign right of a people. The people must know and learn IN TIME what is being done to them. Why such secrecy regarding these supposed "negotiations"? Why this air-tight secrecy which denies the people the right to give their opinion in time?
Fortunately, in all political, social and economic spheres of our country, there are many women and men prepared to defend the highest interests of our Fatherland. Our history is full of heroic episodes in which our people have sought their identity as a free and independent nation. However, in every one of these, during the republican era, the confrontation has been with the U.S.
It is a great tragedy for the Panamanian nation, that at the dawn of achieving our complete sovereignty, there exist "conationals" who, utilizing their positions of power, permit our historic executioners to continue their military presence in our territory.
Panamanian: REMEMBER! It is forbidden to forget," conclude the patriots of the Committee to Recover Panama's Sovereignty.
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