Panama THE NEGOTIATION OF NEW TREATIES
Torrijos in the countryside
Panama Canal treaties signing ceremony, September 7, 1977
Courtesy The White House
The 1964 Riots
Public demonstrations and riots arising from popular resentment
over United States policies and the overwhelming presence of United
States citizens and institutions had not been uncommon, but the
rioting that occurred in January 1964 was uncommonly serious. The
incident began with a symbolic dispute over the flying of the
Panamanian flag in the Canal Zone.
For some time the dispute had been seriously complicated by
differences of opinion on that issue between the Department of
Defense and the Department of State. On the one hand, the military
opposed accepting a Panamanian flag, emphasizing the strategic
importance of unimpaired United States control in the Canal Zone
and the dangerous precedent that appeasement of the rioters'
demands would set for future United States-Panamanian relations.
The Department of State, on the other hand, supported the flag
proposal as a reasonable concession to Panamanian demands and a
method of avoiding major international embarrassment. Diplomatic
officials also feared that the stability of Panamanian political
institutions themselves might be threatened by extensive violence
and mob action over the flag issue.
The United States finally agreed to raise the Panamanian and
United States flags side by side at one location. The special
ceremony on September 21, 1960, at the Shaler Triangle was attended
by the new governor of the zone, Major General William A. Carter,
along with all high United States military and diplomatic officers
and the entire Panamanian cabinet. Even this incident, however,
which marked official recognition of Panama's "titular"
sovereignty, was marred when the United States rejected de la
Guardia's request to allow him to raise the flag personally. De la
Guardia, as a retaliatory measure, refused to attend the ceremony
and extended invitations to the presidential reception after the
ceremony only to the United States ambassador and his senior
diplomatic aides; United States Canal Zone and military officials
were excluded.
Panamanians remained dissatisfied as their flag appeared at
only one location in the Canal Zone, while the United States flag
flew alone at numerous other sites. An agreement was finally
reached that at several points in the Canal Zone the United States
and Panamanian flags would be flown side by side. United States
citizens residing in the Canal Zone were reluctant to abide by this
agreement, however, and the students of an American high school,
with adult encouragement, on two consecutive days hoisted the
American flag alone in front of their school.
Word of the gesture soon spread across the border, and on the
evening of the second day, January 9, 1964, nearly 200 Panamanian
students marched into the Canal Zone with their flag. A struggle
ensued, and the Panamanian flag was torn. After that provocation,
thousands of Panamanians stormed the border fence. The rioting
lasted 3 days, and resulted in more than 20 deaths, serious
injuries to several hundred persons, and more than US$2 million of
property damage.
At the outbreak of the fighting, Panama charged the United
States with aggression. Panama severed relations with the United
States and appealed to the Organization of American States (OAS)
and the United Nations (UN). On January 10 the OAS referred the
case to the Inter-American Peace Committee. When the UN Security
Council met, United States ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson noted that
the Inter-American Peace Committee had already scheduled an on-the-
spot investigation and urged that the problem be considered in the
regional forum. A proposal by the Brazilian delegate that the
president of the Security Council address an appeal to the two
parties to exercise restraint was agreed on, and the UN took no
further action.
The United States had hoped to confine the controversy to the
Inter-American Peace Committee. But when negotiations broke down,
Panama insisted that the Organ of Consultation under the 1947
Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (the so-called Rio
Treaty) be convoked. The OAS Council, acting provisionally as the
Organ of Consultation, appointed an investigating committee
consisting of all the members of the Council except the two
disputants. A joint declaration recommended by the Committee was
signed by the two countries in April, and diplomatic relations were
restored. The controversy smoldered for almost a year, however,
until President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that plans for a new
canal would be drawn up and that an entirely new treaty would be
negotiated.
Negotiations were carried on throughout the first half of the
presidency of Chiari's successor, Marcos Aurelio Robles. When the
terms of three draft treaties--concerning the existing lock canal,
a possible sea-level canal, and defense matters--were revealed in
1967, Panamanian public reaction was adverse. The new treaties
would have abolished the resented "in perpetuity" clause in favor
of an expiration date of December 13, 1999, or the date of the
completion of a new sea-level canal if that were earlier.
Furthermore, they would have compensated the Panamanian government
on the basis of tonnage shipped through the canal, an arrangement
that could have increased the annuity to more than US$20 million.
The intensity of Panamanian nationalism, however, was such that
many contended that the United States should abandon involvement in
Panama altogether. Proposals for the continued United States
military bases in the Canal Zone, for the right of the United
States to deploy troops and armaments anywhere in the republic, and
for a joint board of nine governors for the zone, five of which
were to be appointed by the United States, were particularly
unpopular. Robles initially attempted to defend the terms of the
drafts. When he failed to obtain treaty ratification and he learned
that his own coalition would be at a disadvantage in the upcoming
elections, he declared that further negotiations would be
necessary.
Data as of December 1987
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