Weekly Report - 26 August 2003

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week reminded Latin Americans (and not a few of his own nationals) that the US military pullout from Panama just over a decade ago did not mark the end of US military presence in the region. As part of a swift tour of the Central American countries that had been among the few regional participants in the US-led `coalition of the willing' against Iraq - and who are now sending troops to help alleviate the US burden there - he dropped into Soto Cano airbase, 80 kilometres north of Tegucigalpa, in Honduras. This is the seat of a small (500-strong) US military unit drawn from the three armed services, Joint Task Force Bravo. Its remit is to conduct training, counternartcotics and humanitarian operations in Central America and the Caribbean.