A sold-out audience packed the Illini Country Club meeting room Feb. 26 to learn about and discuss the hot-button topics of Panama and tariffs. More than 100 people began with a meal of Panamanian food and another 40 arrived for a presentation by former Ambassador Edward O’Donnell at the World Affairs Council of Central Illinois session.
During the Q&A, questions ranged from geopolitical tensions involving China to a current water shortage affecting the Panama Canal.
Larry Golden of Springfield asked O’Donnell whether a transactional approach to foreign affairs, such as demanding mineral rights from Ukraine as President Donald Trump has done, can be effective, instead of using more traditional diplomacy. “Can it work? What are the costs? Are there any benefits to it?” Golden asked.
O’Donnell, a career diplomat who was speaking a few days before the Trump-Zelensky meeting in the White House, replied there can be short-term benefits, but added, “There are some long-term costs when we (will) need allies. There will be a crisis where we will want Germany and India and Colombia and Panama to be on our side against exploitation by China, or an invasion of Ukraine by Putin and so on. I think there’s some concern about that (transactional) approach.”
Adriana Piatti-Crocker, a professor of political science and director of global studies at University of Illinois Springfield, asked if tariffs might weaken diplomatic relations in Latin America. O’Donnell said yes, if the tariffs are enacted and not just threatened. “We’ll have to see how that turns out,” he said.
He also said there are potential negative effects of the tariffs that President Trump is proposing, including higher prices averaging an additional $800 to $1,200 a year in costs for Americans, a disruption in supply chains and probable retaliatory tariffs imposed by other countries.
Piatti-Crocker agreed and told Illinois Times afterward: “Tariffs do lead to conflict and go against 70 years of American foreign policy that advocated free trade through international institutions sponsored by the U.S. and Western allies and multiple trade agreements with Latin American countries.” She also said some countries “may interpret U.S. protectionist policies as political isolationism,” possibly strengthening China’s position in Latin America.
During his 33-year career in the foreign service, O’Donnell served twice in Panama, in 1988-89 and again from 1999-2002. He also worked in Europe, other Latin American countries and Washington, D.C.
Introducing O’Donnell at the beginning of the program was Kathy Johnson, a retired foreign service officer who served with O’Donnell in Austria in the 1990s. Johnson worked on management issues for three negotiating delegations while O’Donnell was the economic counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Vienna. Johnson was born in Oak Park and served on four continents while moving 15 times.
Johnson retired in Springfield even though she had never lived here. She said she spent a year deciding where to retire and had a list of criteria, including reasonable access to family in other cities and cultural amenities.
“I was honored to serve our wonderful country as a U.S. diplomat for 31 years,” she said. She is on the WACCI board of directors as vice president for programs.
O’Donnell described in detail the history of the Panama Canal, which opened in 1914. He cited President Theodore Roosevelt’s enthusiasm for its construction and, decades later, the political conditions that led President Jimmy Carter to negotiate treaties in 1977 that guaranteed Panama would gain control of the Panama Canal after 1999.
“It’s really deep in the Panamanian soul” that only the Panamanian flag, not the American flag, should fly over their land, he said. Prior to Carter’s negotiations, he added, three U.S. presidents – Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford – had talked about returning the canal to Panama to avoid the appearance of U.S. colonialism.
“The canal is not only a critical source of revenue for Panama but, as stated by O’Donnell, it is a source of Panamanian pride and identity,” Piatti-Crocker added.
O’Donnell singled out Carter as an important promoter of human rights. O’Donnell served in Paraguay in the 1970s and said a “terrible person,” Alfredo Stroessner, served as its military dictator from 1954 to 1989. Stroessner put political opponents in prison and harbored Nazi criminals from World War II. But Carter pressured him to release nearly all of the country’s 1,000 political prisoners.
“Carter’s human rights policy made a difference all over Latin America,” O’Donnell said. “And remember, this was during the Cold War when we were competing with communist Cuba and throughout the hemisphere for influence. President Carter, I think, got it right – (he focused on) human rights.”
Other U.S. presidents before and after Carter either supported or failed to challenge some Latin American dictatorships, Piatti-Crocker added. She said Carter reduced economic and military aid to dictatorships in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, but his long-term effectiveness was reduced by being president only the four years from 1977 to 1981.
Piatti-Crocker studies human rights in Latin America, especially policies intended to promote the mandated inclusion of women in legislatures. She said more than 130 countries have adopted “gender quota” policies elevating opportunities for women in elective offices.
“The relative success of Latin American women in winning electoral office in the new millennium – including the presidencies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Honduras and now also Mexico – reflects global changes in gender roles and a major cultural shift in the region,” she wrote last year after Claudia Sheinbaum was elected president of Mexico.
WACCI is a civic organization dedicated to educating the public about U.S. foreign policy, global economic and environmental issues, and international politics through in-depth presentations and discussions. The organization hosts a speaker series with recognized experts providing lectures on critical issues from a variety of viewpoints. All events are free and open to the public.
Ed Wojcicki has a bachelor’s degree in journalism, was publisher of Illinois Issues magazine for 10 years and now freelances from Springfield.
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