On the Record

Panama II McCORD AIR FORCE BASE, WA. About 125,000 people attended an air show on Saturday that was billed as a re-enactment of the invasion of Panama….Fighters roared overhead at 600 miles an hour, and bombers and helicopters swooped low on mock straf- ing runs. Paratroopers jumped from a C-141. “I think it’s appropriate for them to re-create the Panama invasion,” said Jean Smith of Tacoma, who was joined by three of her 18 grandchildren. “This way you get a chance to find out exactly what goes on, to see it for yourself.” “War is war, and that’s a fact of life,” said Henry Stahl, who brought his son, a member of the Air Force ROTC, to the show. “If the military does a good job, I think they should let the people see.” “Somebody on base overhyped the event,” said Col. Mike McCarthy, the commander of the air base. “As soon as I heard about it, I said, ‘It’s a mistake. We’re not doing Panama II.”‘ New York Times July 16, 1990 Abracadabra In the beginning we had the land and they had the bibles, and they said “close your eyes and pray, my son,” and we closed our eyes and prayed, and when we opened our eyes we had the bibles and they had the land. Author Eduardo Galeano, on the evangelization of the Americas, paraphrasing Desmond Tutu Este Pais May/June 1990 Geoanatomy “They call us their ‘back-yard’-el patio trasero. You know what else tras- ero means? It means your rear end. And that’s how [the Unites States sees] us. And there’s a great geopolitical lesson here…..We consider the Unites States to be our head. But the head has to take care of the rest of the body. Especially those ‘other’ body parts that need spe- cial attention….It’s the head that has to watch out for a hangnail, a stomach- ache, or in this case for hemorrhoids. You know, when you bleed through the rectum and you just put a rag down there to stop the bleeding, then you’re not really taking care of your body. And that’s what the American people have done by spending so many millions of dollars on the war in El Salvador and Nicaragua.” Former Guatemalan dictator and current presidential hopeful, retired Gen. Efrain Rios Montt Village Voice July 24, 1990 Exterminator “If they let Rios Montt run, the po- litical system of Guatemala is finished. And if they don’t let him run, the politi- cal system of Guatemala is finished.” Jorge Serrano Elias, former top advisor to Rios Montt and rival candidate for the presidency Miami Herald July 4, 1990 La Dictablanda “The perfect dictatorship is not communism, nor the Soviet Union, nor Cuba. It is Mexico.” Peruvian novelist and politician Mario Vargas Llosa The Economist September 8,1990 In the Eye of the Beholder Through Decree No. 364 signed by Panamanian President Guillermo En- dara and Foreign Minister Julio E. Linares, President Endara has an- nounced that “the Panamanian Gov- ernment will not recognize any govern- ment resulting from a military coup carried out against a legitimately elected government.” Neolibspeak La Prensa, Panama City September 5, 1990 “If they (businessmen) don’t change, they will have to shut their doors or get out of Argentina. If they go, other investors will take their place. I don’t distinguish between national and foreign capital. There is no flag on capital. I ask myself, what is national capital? Fifty billion dollars in capital that has left the country via Argentine business executives? Or resources used by multinationals to produce here?” President Carlos Menem of Argentina Business Week September 24, 1990