US Invasion of Panama - Notes

Notes

1. In September 1979 the US Congress passed Law 96-70, sponsored in the House of Representatives by Rep. John Murphy of New York. It “implemented” the Panama Canal treaties, but in fact contained a number of provisions that violated Panama’s sovereignty over its territory.

2. In September 1984 the Contadora Groups (Mexico, Venezuela, Panama, and Colombia) proposed a Central American peace accord designed to end the contra war in Nicaragua. The agreement was accepted by Nicaragua but rejected by Washington.

3. Roberto Diaz was relieved of his post as second in command of the Panama Defense Forces in June 1987; Devalle was dismissed as president by Panama’s National Assembly in February 1988. Both have joined the US campaign of aggression against Panama.

4. Jose Marti is considered Cuba’s national hero. He initiated Cuba’s final war for independence from Spain in 1895 and was killed in battle that same year.

5. The Movement of Nonaligned Countries held its Ninth Summit Conference in September 1989. At that meeting Cuba’s First Vice President Raul Castro made a vigorous call for worldwide solidarity with Panama.

6. In 1949 some drunken US sailors climbed on top of Marti’s statue in Havana and urinated on it. This act of desecration provoked a wide public outcry and protest demonstrations among Cuban patriots.

7. In April 1961, in an action organized and directed by the US government, some 1,500 Cuban-born mercenaries invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. The invaders were defeated within seventy-two hours.

8. On December 7, 1989, Castro spoke at a ceremony honoring Cubans killed on internationalist missions. The speech was published in English in the December 17, 1989, issue of Granma Weekly Review and in the January 5, 1990, issue of the Militant.

9. This refers to the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis. At that time, Washington threatened a nuclear attack and invasion against Cuba after it had acquired missiles from the Soviet Union to defend itself from threatened US aggression.

10. Cuban athlete Javier Sotomayor is holder of the world high jump record.

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