[CPEO-MEF] Panama angry over leftover U.S. weapons

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Panama Angry Over US Weapons Left Along Canal 

Mike Power
Planet Ark
November 7, 2005

ESCOBAL, Panama - When the US military handed over control of the Panama
Canal in 1999, it left behind thousands of unexploded weapons strewn
across jungle firing ranges that are still killing people. 

Many Panamanians accuse the United States of ignoring the dangers and
President George W. Bush will face protests over the controversy during
a visit starting on Sunday night. 

Washington controlled the inter-oceanic waterway and a five-mile (eight
km) strip either side of the canal for almost all of the 20th century,
and used some of the land for firing ranges. 

It gave control of the canal to Panama at the end of 1999, but handover
treaties only obliged it to clear up unexploded munitions as far as was
"practicable." 

?

For the entire article, see
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=33332



-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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