By Serge F. Kovaleski
                  Washington Post Foreign Service
                  Sunday, January 16, 2000; Page A29

                  PANAMA CITY—Nisla Bernachina snarled and waved a finger when
                  asked for her views on the legacy of the U.S. presence in Panama.
                  "Satanic," she declared. "Some believe the Americans did all these great
                  things for us, as if they painted angels in the heavens like Michelangelo. But
                  not me."

                  A virtual town meeting of passersby eager to pipe up took shape in the
                  impoverished neighborhood of El Chorrillo as Bernachina, 58, discussed
                  the United States and Panama. The U.S. role here has long been a hot
                  subject. Now that the gringos are finally gone, having turned over the
                  Panama Canal on Dec. 31, the discussion is equally hot, but it has turned
                  to the memories they left behind, to what Panamanians will remember after
                  nearly a century of highly visible and influential U.S. presence.

                  Perhaps more than any other Latin American nation, Panama felt the daily
                  reach of American culture. Legions of U.S. troops socialized in
                  Panamanian bars and restaurants, becoming patrons that owners often
                  catered to by serving American-style food and offering menus in English.
                  One of the first TV stations was a U.S. military channel for the U.S. armed
                  forces and other Americans who lived in the Canal Zone. Today, English,
                  with a distinctly U.S. mark, is spoken by many Panamanians to varying
                  degrees.

                  Panama's newspapers regularly mentioned weddings and other social
                  events in the Canal Zone, which had American schools and was subject to
                  U.S. laws. And besides the 50-mile-long canal, the most enduring symbol
                  is the U.S. dollar, the main currency since President Theodore Roosevelt
                  engineered Panama's independence from Colombia in 1903.

                  Opinions about the United States in Panama are particularly strong in El
                  Chorrillo, a bayside neighborhood of 25,000 that was the site of the main
                  barracks of president Manuel Noriega's military--and that therefore bore
                  the brunt of a U.S. invasion 10 years ago. Although new apartments have
                  been built, resentment persists among some residents, who argue they
                  were never adequately compensated.

                  "I cannot forget how we were left in ruins and misery by the gringos," said
                  Bernachina, whose home at the time of the invasion was destroyed.

                  But surprisingly, views in El Chorrillo regarding the United States are as
                  divided as they are strident. They reflect a widespread ambivalence among
                  Panamanians about the way the United States handled its role as master of
                  the 10-mile-wide Canal Zone and whether the U.S. military's departure
                  was in the best interest of Panama and its strategic waterway.

                  National fervor ran high over the long-awaited canal transfer, which
                  ushered in a new era of sovereignty for this country of 2.8 million people
                  that President Mireya Moscoso has tirelessly trumpeted. The jubilation has
                  also been used by others to vent anti-American sentiments they have
                  harbored for a long time, their voices finding prominence amid the patriotic
                  euphoria.

                  However, polls over the last two years have consistently shown that while
                  the majority of Panamanians favored the U.S. government relinquishing
                  jurisdiction in accordance with 1977 canal treaties, they also wanted the
                  United States to retain a limited presence. A survey of 1,200 Panamanians
                  published by La Prensa newspaper showed 70 percent feel that
                  Panama--which relies on a police force for security since its army was
                  dissolved after the U.S. invasion--is incapable of defending the canal.

                  "I appreciated the fact the Americans soldiers took [then president]
                  Noriega away in chains and knowing that if there was a real problem in this
                  barrio or in the canal the United States was always close by. . . . For me,
                  that sense of security has been replaced by a sense of insecurity,"
                  remarked Luis Rivera, 44, a tailor stitching cloth in his shop in a dilapidated
                  apartment building in El Chorrillo.

                  "I will remember the time the United States spent here like a scale that
                  tipped to both sides, but mostly toward the side of good," he added.

                  Graciela Medina, 35, an unemployed neighbor, sat nearby emphatically
                  nodding. "I would have liked the United States to have stayed because I
                  have no faith in our government. We are the poor, we are the devils who
                  are ignored while we have to live with gangs, murder and poverty on every
                  corner."

                  She added, "Now that Panama is on its own, I am afraid that things will
                  only get worse around here."

                  But Julio Clinger, a jobless 22-year-old, dismissed any suggestion that the
                  U.S. presence in this country was positive, shoving a friend who had
                  expressed pro-American views. Clinger contended the United States
                  debased Panamanians' self-esteem by fencing off the Canal Zone and
                  creating self-contained communities where Zonians, mostly Americans,
                  lived separate lives.

                  "The Americans manipulated our government and left us feeling like
                  second-class citizens. That is their legacy," Clinger said.

                  "Injustice is what I will remember about the gringos, and nothing else,"
                  chimed in Gloria Maria Urtado, 65, who says she lost an aunt, a cousin
                  and a nephew in the invasion.

                  Reflections about the United States have not only been stoked by the
                  handover of the canal, but by the marking on Dec. 20 of the 10th
                  anniversary of the U.S. invasion. On that day, about 2,000 demonstrators
                  wearing black pelted the U.S. Embassy with rocks and paint as they
                  chanted, "Out with the gringos!" and "Gringos! Assassins!"

                  A day earlier, a crowd gathered outside the headquarters of the party of
                  Noriega, a former CIA collaborator who is now serving a life sentence in
                  Miami on drug trafficking charges, and burned him in effigy. Many
                  Panamanians blame Noriega as much as the United States for the invasion.

                  And on Sunday, Panama held its annual day of mourning to honor the
                  Panamanian students killed 36 years ago by U.S. authorities while
                  attempting to raise the country's flag in the Canal Zone during a
                  demonstration. But this year's commemoration took on special significance
                  since it was the first to be held with no U.S. military to be found in the
                  country.

                  At the Amador Cemetery, where Ascanio Arosemena, the first student
                  killed in the 1964 clash, is buried, history professor Luis Almanza, 46, paid
                  his respects. then offered a list of attributes that the United States will be
                  remembered for.

                  "The canal, good administration, good salaries and cultural coexistence,"
                  said Almanza, listing the good things left behind. "But unfortunately there
                  will also be the issues of aggression, as well as arrogance on the part of the
                  Zonians and military personnel."
 

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