US embassy cable - 05PANAMA698

C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 000698 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PERSONAL FOR CJCS GENERAL RICHARD B. MYERS FROM AMBASSADOR 
LINDA WATT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/28/2015 
TAGS: OVIP, PREL, MOPS, PM, POL CHIEF 
SUBJECT: YOUR VISIT TO PANAMA 
 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR LINDA WATT FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
1.  (C) When I heard of your plan to visit Panama on April 10 
my Embassy immediately began making preparations to welcome 
you.  I personally have been looking forward to meeting you 
and working with you.  Recently Panama has been the focus of 
intense Washington interest and we have had the honor to host 
an unprecedented number of USG delegations, including codels 
Weller, Pombo, Blunt, Taylor, Hyde, and Renzi.  Many 
Panamanians also are traveling to Washington on official 
business.  Normally senior-level USG visits, such as yours, 
get passing positive mention in the local press.  However, 
the confluence of your visit with two other high-level 
bilateral visits with military and security themes has me 
worried about the predictable local reaction.  On April 4, 
Gen. Craddock from U.S. Southern Command will meet with 
senior Panamanian officials in Panama.  On April 6, the 
Panamanian Minister of Government of Justice will meet with 
Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and other officials in Washington. 
 Add your visit to the mix and journalists, politicians, and 
opinion leaders will assume that something big is in the air 
with the U.S. military and stridently demand to know what it 
is. 
 
2.  (C) As you know, Panama abolished its military after a 
21-year dictatorship, following Operation Just Cause and the 
toppling of Gen. Noriega in 1989.  In November 2004, 
following Sec. Rumsfeld's visit to Panama, we endured 
uncomfortable and unfounded speculation about a purported 
"Plan Rumsfeld" and absurd allegations about plans to 
remilitarize the country.  My concern is that an exaggerated 
public footprint of three back-to-back meetings in one week 
involving our highest military and defense officials will 
spawn unfounded suspicion of our intentions.  The local press 
can be counted on to look for a conspiracy in your visit and 
to give it the worst possible interpretation, unjustified 
though it is.  I know you can appreciate the need to avoid 
the corrosive influence of distrust and negative publicity in 
the conduct of bilateral relations.  We all are honored that 
you want to visit Panama and I sincerely hope that you will. 
But on this occasion I trust you will agree with me and 
postpone your very welcome visit until another point in the 
near future, so that your visit to Panama will be 
constructive and helpful rather than an opportunity for our 
detractors to create a public relations problem for us and a 
political circus for the government of Panama. 
 
3.  (U) With warm regards and admiration, 
Linda Watt 
 
WATT