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:
Attachment | Size |
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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