EX-ENVOY TO PANAMA IGNORE

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP75-00149R000200650007-5
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
2
Document Creation Date: 
November 11, 2016
Document Release Date: 
March 18, 1999
Sequence Number: 
7
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
February 8, 1964
Content Type: 
OPEN
File: 
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PDF icon CIA-RDP75-00149R000200650007-5.pdf145.5 KB
Body: 
STATINTL Sanitized - Approved For Release STATINTL HUMAN EVENTS CPYRGHT By VICTOR RIESEL An ex-diplomat, who is considered by Latin American experts to be one of the best informed and most ex- perienced specialists of them all, has been completely ignored by ,our gov- ernment during the deadly violence of the Panamanian crisis. He is Joseph S. Farland, whose specialty within a specialty is the Caribbean area and Panama, to which, he was U.S. ambassador for some' three years. Not only does he know Panama intimately-its cwnpesinos (peasants), its Indians, its cities and mountain and fishing villages first hand-but he Is an ex-FBI man who worked Former Ambassador to Panama Joseph S. Farland has not re- ceived one phone call from a government agency since resign- ing in August. His vast experience in dealing with the Castro opera- tion has been completely disregarded. . on what is known inside the bureau as the "100 Case" category. This is 'the section handling intricate spy net- works. Thus, he is also an expert in counter-espionage, counter-insurgency, counter-infiltration and Communist tactics. He has been ignored not only during the present crisis, in which American soldiers died from snipers' bullets,, but also in recent months when he has been given the rudest and most unprecedented treatment ever handed a returning envoy. He resigned as ambassador to Panama last August Since then he has not had one phone call from any -government agency. The State Depart- ment has even deprived itself and our government of his knowledge by re- fusing to de-brief him. Never before has this happened-not even to him. Debriefing is the process during which a returning diplomat confiden- ; tially reports to certain government agencies everything he has learned about the nation to which he had been posted. When Joe Farland re- turned from the Dominican Republic, ; where he had been a successful ambas- sador, he was de-briefed. When he resigned from his Panama'l post, he sat in Washington for a full; three weeks awaiting the usual calls. from Central Intelligence, the State Do- f Naval Intelligence (O.N.I.), the 1 U.S.I.A., the Commerce Department's.'' confidential divisions and the Panama Canal Zone Co. No one called., Yet the State Dep artment officials knew from Farland's stream of re- ports, which came up, regularly while he was ,r~ibassador to Panama, that he I. :new the inner details of the Castro operation, 6~s objectives and Its tactics. Secretary of State Dear. Rusk was asked about this treatment during a session of the House Foreign Affairs committee on January 15. Rusk turned to an aide and asked, "What about it?" The aide said: "Oh, yes, Mr. Farland has been completely de- briefed.' This was absolutely untrue. When I talked with Joe Farland this weekend, he confirmed his treat- ment by the State Department But he would not interpret it, so we can all draw our own conclusions. It is not insignificant that Mr. Farland sharply criticized the State Dept and; the red tape of the Agency for In- ternational Development(AID) official- dom when he resigned in disgust As for Panama itself, Mr. Farland told me that it has always been one of Castro's first objectives because it is a primary strategic target for the International Communist apparatus. Farland revealed that there were at least 700 hardcore Castro agents Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000200650007-5 Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000200650007-5 CPYRGHT operating inside Panama. Their cells are mostly amongst the campesinos,' Farland said. " The present activity of the Com- munists," he revealed, "in Latin America and in Panama specifically, 'is to set up cells in the interior with the campesinos. The Castro operatives thereby hope to create a climate for- guerrilla warfare. Without support from the land and the peasants, no guerrillas can survive. The Com- munists also have infiltrators and trained saboteurs in the big cities at- tempting to work themselves into the unions." This is corroborated by a report that Sergio Oterci, General Secretary of the Panamanian Workers - Federation, gave to a Communist global labor meeting in Moscow during its fifth World Federation of Trade Unions Congress. "A united front of 30 trade unions," said Otero, "has been formed in Panama. Among its objectives is to secure the withdrawal of foreign troops and to achieve the neutralization of -the Panama Canal." Farland, during our discussion of Castro, said: "Here in the U.S. we should recall the fact that the first armed effort by 'Castro outside of Cuba was madei in the spring of 1959. It was an abor- tive armed invasion from Cuba. Hisl guerrillas missed their landing point. and ended up at an isolated Atlantic spot known as Nombre De Dios, be-.' low Colon. Their destination was the: mouth of the Code de Norte River, in the heart of government land. They had intended to move up into that uninhabited area. This is an old smugglers' route, and I had tried to open it up for the poor people when I was ambassador. The Castro forces' objective was to gather strength from the cam- pesinos and overthrow the gov- ernment. Then they would have assaulted the Canal. "They failed. But the Communist ,agents did whip up a burning, loot ? ing, rioting throng in November 1959. The same thing as now-along the ,Fourth of July Avenue." There were other riots. One broke out shortly after Joe Farland and I i talked in his embassy this summer. But no one was hurt until the other day-four months after he quit Why has this experienced diplomat: been ignored? (Distributed 1964 by the Hall Syndicate, Inc.) FEB 81964 Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000200650007-5