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TFLAC - Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean |
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Panama Calls for U.S. Chemical Cleanup by John Lindsay-Poland In a better world, policymakers might see fulfilling U.S. obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention as an important step in preventing terrorist attacks. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, however, the Bush administration is putting alliances of convenience ahead of international law as tools for combating the use of chemical and biological weapons. Culminating years of technical and diplomatic efforts, Panamanian Foreign Minister José Miguel Alemán confronted Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington on September 4 with U.S. violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Alemán’s charge resulted from a visit to San Jose Island in July by technical inspectors of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) from the Hague. The OPCW was set up to implement the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which the United States and Panama have both ratified. Besides providing for the destruction of chemical warfare stockpiles by 2008, the CWC also requires member nations to declare and destroy chemical weapons that they have abandoned in other member countries’ territories. San Jose Island, located in the Pacific Ocean 60 miles from Panama City, was used by the United States during and after World War II as a tropical testing ground for thousands of chemical bombs and mortars containing mustard, phosgene, and other poison gases. When the United States departed San Jose in 1948, it left behind unexploded chemical munitions in the island’s jungle - duds no less toxic as when they were left there. The United States ratified the CWC in 1997, and it declared that it had not abandoned chemical weapons in any other country. This contradicted what was clearly visible to any visitor to San Jose Island, now owned by a private consortium that has built tourist cabins there. The OPCW inspection in July confirmed this, finding four live mustard bombs of U.S. manufacture - three 500-pound and one 1,000-pound bombs. The OPCW said that, "it is highly likely that a substantial number of dud munitions remain to be found on the island." Alemán took the opportunity to press Washington for cleanup of firing ranges in the canal area, littered with thousands of conventional unexploded munitions, which were to have been cleaned up under the Panama Canal Treaties that expired in 1999. The United States claims it removed as many of the explosives as it could. "If they were wrong with respect to the island of San Jose they could be wrong with respect to the firing ranges," Alemán said. He also asked U.S. officials for information on chemical weapons that may have been left behind on former U.S. bases and ranges elsewhere in Panama. Though Panama has quarantined San Jose Island until a more complete inspection is made for chemical weapons, Panama postponed pressing its case after September 11. Nevertheless, in late October Alemán raised the issue again with U.S. officials during a visit to Washington. It was not clear from press accounts whether Panama has revised its formal declaration to the OPCW about material abandoned by the United States. If so, such an amendment would put in motion a CWC requirement that the U.S. address the chemical bombs on San Jose within 180 days. The State Department reportedly established an inter-agency committee to study the OPCW report. Sources: OPCW Technical Assistance Visit, Final Report, 8/14/01; Financial Times, 9/7/01.
©2001 Fellowship of Reconciliation
Fellowship of Reconciliation
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