DATE: Friday, February 28, 1997             TAG: 9702280607

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A14  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: PANAMA CITY, PANAMA               LENGTH:   38 lines

U.S. MAY KEEP SOME BASES IN PANAMA AFTER PULLOUT DEADLINE

Panama and the United States have discussed keeping some American military bases here open past the 2000 pullout deadline.

U.S. Ambassador William Hughes said late Wednesday the understanding ``was general and preliminary in its nature.''

In a report last week, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said there was an ``informal understanding'' that the United States would retain at least four military bases in Panama.

A 1977 treaty calls on all U.S. troops to be out of Panama and for the Panama Canal to become Panamanian property at the end of the century.

Panama has said it would not negotiate prolonging the U.S. military presence. Officials were not immediately available for comment Thursday.

Panama is home to the U.S. Southern Command, whose mandate includes 19 countries. In preparation for the deadline, U.S. military forces have been reduced to 6,800, down from 10,800 in 1992, and only seven of the original 10 bases remain open. Command headquarters will move to Miami this year.

Hughes said he and the late Panamanian Foreign Minister Gabriel Lewis, who died Dec. 19, had reached an understanding. The understanding was that the United States would keep the bases without payment to Panama.

``Our contacts were designed to prepare the ground to negotiate as we were instructed to do by our presidents,'' Hughes said in his statement. No formal negotiations are going on now, he added.

Polls have shown consistently that Panamanians favor keeping American bases because of the millions of dollars and thousands of jobs they contribute to the Panamanian economy.

The two countries have been exploring the possibility of permitting U.S. troops to stay in Panama as part of an international counter-narcotics center, according to the Senate report. KEYWORDS: MILITARY BASES

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