Panama says it will not have US troops after 2000

The Foreign Ministry in Panama has said that the country will not have United States troops in its territory after the year 2000.

A spokesperson Eric Rodríguez Auerbachtold the BBC that no US troops would remain after their current bases are closed in 1999.

The US and Panama have been discussing plans to set up an international anti-narcotics centre at a former US airbase in Panama and it had been expected that some troops would remain.

All American facilities and the Panama Canal are due to come under full Panamanian control before the year 2000.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service