European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 22, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday March 22, 19b8 the stars and stripes f Paga troubled Waters for Panama canal unrest casting co uhf on ifs future Panama City Panama a the political crisis gripping the country has barely i fuelled inc Panama canal Bui same officials say continued unrest could Cloud in future. Panamanians have Given the water Way so vital 10 their nation s a Colony cautious treatment during the weeks or Lum Ioil. When general strikes shut Down the my of the country canal employees went to work. When naming barricades blocked downtown streets roads to the canal were Clear. Even at the height of last week s pro tests rioters demanding the ouster of Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega avoided the canal zone just outside the capital. Opposition forces trying to shut Dawn the Economy and Force out Noriega have carefully avoided Vurba attacks on the canal or any Call for strike or protests in the canal zone. Canal officials say the most serious problem was a transit service stoppage thai made in impossible for Many canal employees to gel to work. Aft it wednesday s aborted coup and Street riots the joint  commission that has governed the canal since 1479 us cd a reassuring statement. We expect surface transit to continue without interruption said the canal s Marine director George Hull an. Average of 33 ships a Day pass through the 50-mile set of locks and lakes. Canal officials Eaid 37 made the trip wednesday and 39 thursday de spite work stoppages at ports on both sides of the waterway and n curfew in Colon. Even the Power outages that plagued the rest of the country did not affect the canal because the commission generates its own Power. The trans America pipeline earning alaskan Oil across the isthmus to Gulf coast markets was not so Lucky the cer outages stopped pumping onion cuday and thursday officials said. But after inc defense forces look control of All major utilities ports railroads and ministries and the postal service thursday Power was restored and pumping resumed Friday morning. Copt. John Manor president of the 230-Mcmbcr Panama canal pilots association said political instability could sound the waterway s death Knell. Shipbuilders already arc planning for 2000, when Panama lakes full control of the waterway he Tepla iced. And must decide now whether new elects will be Small enough to fit through the lock Chambers. Maher fears thai if builders have doubts about the canal s reliability they will opt to build larger ships. Already about 1,800 ships worldwide arc Loo big to pass through the locks. Canal revenues Are about 10 percent of Panama s Gross National product. The canal and the pipeline along with offshore banking a thriving re Export Industry and a Large . Military pres ence have made Panama the most prosperous country in Central America. In 1987, the canal made direct pay ments of �78,1 million to Panama from loll Revenue of just under �330 million. Much of the rest of the Revenue which goes la maintenance salaries and other Ripen i lures also helped swell he National Economy. But years of deficit spending also piled up a $4.5 billion foreign debt that led to civil unrest capital flight and loss of gov Erna Cut income. Local Banks have been closed for weeks because the government could not provide them with enough Money to cover a run. Panama has no currency of its own and uses the . Dollar. The United slates has been applying economic pressure in Hopes of forcing Noriega to resign. It Cut off military and economic Aid and has withheld 16.5 Mil lion in canal fees. The canal commission u sensitive about the problems that the political chaos is creating for what it insists u a non political maritime  commission spokeswoman Mercedes Morris said inc rioting and unrest have unfairly frayed the waterway s Rcpt. Tation. In her finds the Cloud Over the canal particularly galling because of us smooth transition so far to direct panamanian control under a 1979 trealy Wilh the United states. The Panama ution of inc canal a been a or Cal Success he said. And if the canal can come through the current problems unscathed the future is  the canal and the treaties returning it to Panama evoke fervent nationalism. Panamanians say the Clum of the canal will end five cd musics of Spanish. Colombian and . Domination. About 10,000 american troops Are stationed in bases in Panama Home of the . Southern come inc nerve Cen Ter for All american military activity in latin America. The canal treaties say the . Bases will go at the end of the Cen Tury. A panes taking Job with squeegees in hand window Wash Palo Alto Cihla nuke Clear Tysl they in no the unit rally National Bank in know Trail their Job is All about. It May not be too run Monum but their Job offers them a front Row Seal plenty of room with a View and a Hini Fow on the world As Lair a Handiwork reflects. . Teacher to be reunited with soviet Fiance Lynn. Mass. A an american teacher who first incl her soviet Fiance 21 years ago and has t seen him Inci Ghi years says she s excited and nervous at the Prospect of being reunited Wilh him this week. Victor Novikov ill a research chemist in Moscow is scheduled to arrive sat urday from the soviet Union on a three month immigration visa said Elizabeth Condon 45, a russian and French teacher in Worum Public schools. The two have been unable to see each other since oct. 28, 1979, when hey tried to Mam in the soviet Union but were blocked by soviet officials. Over the years Condon s requests for visas to visit the soviet Union were turned Down repeatedly Ai were Novi Kov s attempts to come to the United Stales the couple met in 1967, when con Don had a temporary Job in Moscow. Over the years she has visited the soviet Union 10 times. The efforts of the Reagan administration in the last iwo years in working with the soviets to resolve cases like ours created a link bit of Hope she said. The two finally Learned in december thai Novikov was among 15 soviet Resi dents who would be allowed to emigrate after years of being rebuffed. We re both very excited and Ner Vous said Condon. After All.  Haven t seen each other for 8 / years. We May need name  she said that if they marry within the three months of his visa there will be nothing to keep Novikov from staying in the United Stales As for their immediate plans we first have to gel race quailed and i Hope to get Victor into an English class Condon Laid