95TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION

H. RES. 92

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 10, 1977

Mr. FLOOD submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

RESOLUTION

Whereas United States diplomatic representatives are presently engaged in negotiations with representatives of the de facto Revolutionary Government of Panama, under the declared purpose to surrender to Panama, at an early date, United States sovereign rights and to abandon its treaty obligations, as defined below, to maintain, operate, protect, and otherwise govern the United States-owned canal and its protective frame of the Canal Zone, herein designated as the "canal" and the "zone", respectively, situated within the Isthmus of Panama; and

Whereas the United States is obligated by international agreement to regulate, manage, and protect a ship canal, guaranteeing its neutrality to the shipping of all nations at equal toll rates, to wit:

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The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of 1901 between the United States and Great Britain, under which the United States adopted the principles of the Convention of Constantinople of 1888 as the rules for operation, regulation, and management of the canal; and

Whereas title to and ownership of the zone, under the right "in perpetuity" to exercise sovereign control thereof, were vested entirely and absolutely in the United States and recognized to have been so vested in certain solemnly ratified treaties by the United States, with Panama and Colombia, to wit:

(1) The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903 between the Republic of Panama and the United States, by the terms of which the Republic of Panama granted to the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation, and control of the zone with full sovereign rights, power, and authority over the zone for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation, and protection of the canal to the entire exclusion of the exercise by the Republic of Panama of any such sovereign rights, power, or authority; and

(2) The Thomson-Urrutia Treaty of April 6, 1914, proclaimed March 30, 1922, between the Republic of Colombia and the United States, under which the Republic of Colombia recognized that the title to the canal and the Panama Railroad is vested "entirely and absolutely" in the United States, which treaty granted important rights in the use of the canal and railroad to Colombia; and

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Whereas the United States, in addition to having so acquired title to and ownership of the zone by constitutional means pursuant to congressional authorization, purchased all privately owned land and property in the zone, making it the most costly United States territorial possession; and

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Whereas the United States since 1904 has continuously occupied and exercised sovereign control over the zone, constructed 'the canal, and, since 1914, for a period of more than sixty years, operated the canal in a highly efficient manner at reasonable toll rates to the vessels of all nations without discrimination under the terms of the above-mentioned treaties, thereby honoring its obligations; and

Whereas from 1904 through June 30, 1974, the United States made a total investment in the canal, including defense, at a cost to the taxpayers of the United States of over $6,880,370,000; and

Whereas the investment of the United States in the canal includes

the sacrifices of many tliousands of United States citizens who have worked to construct the canal, to keep it operating smoothly and efficiently, and to protect it; and

Whereas the canal is of vital and imperative importance to hemispheric defense and to the security of the United States and Panama; and

Whereas approximately 70 per centum of 'canal traffic either originates or terminates in United States ports, making the continued operation of the canal by the United States vital to its economy; and

Whereas the people of the United States have exhibited strong support for retention of full and undiluted jurisdiction over the canal and zone, and the Constitution insures the supremacy of the people; and

Whereas Panama has, under the terms of the 1903 treaty and the

1936 and 1955 revisions thereof, been well compensated for the sovereign rights, power, and authority it granted to the United States, in such significantly beneficial manner that

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said compensation and correlated benefits have constituted a major portion of the economy of Panama, giving it the highest per capita income in all of Central America; and Whereas the long established friendly and cooperative relations between the United States and the Republic of Panama as a consequence of the benefits flowing from the present treaty structure are prone to deterioration by the dilution of any United States sovereignty or jurisdiction in the canal and zone; and

Whereas the present negotiations pursuant to the February 7,

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1974, "Agreement on Principles" signed without congressional authorization by United States Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, and by Panamanian Foreign Minister Juan A. Tack, constitute a clear and present danger to the hemispheric security and the successful operation of the canal by the United States under its treaty obligations; and Whereas the present treaty negotiations are being conducted under a cloak of unwarranted secrecy, thus withholding from our people and their representatives in Congress information vital to the commerce and security of the United States; and

Whereas the United States House of Representatives, on February 2, 1960, adopted House Concurrent Resolution 459, Eighty-sixth Congress, reaffirming the sovereignty of the United States over the zone territory by the overwhelming vote of three hundred and eighty-two to twelve, thus demonstrating the firm determination of the people that the United States should maintain its indispensable sovereignty and jurisdiction over the canal and the zone; and

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Whereas under article IV, section 3, clause 2, of the United States Constitution, the power to dispose of territory or

other property of the United States is specifically vested in the Congress, which includes the House of Representatives; and

Whereas the Communist regime in Cuba has niade that country a satellite of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in violation of the Monroe Doctrine; and

Whereas the proposed surrender of United States sovereign control over the zone and canal to Panama, which is unable to defend them, would invite the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to establish its power still more firmly in the strategic center of the Americas and threaten the operations and projected modernization of the canal; and

Whereas such a takeover would transform the Caribbean-Gulf of Mexico basin into a strategic Soviet stronghold; and Whereas the Congress of the United States is invested with

constitutional responsibilities to provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States, to regulate commerce with foreign nations, to raise and support armies and provide and maintain a Navy, to make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory of the United States, and to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution these and other powers, all of which denote that it is the solemn duty of Congress to safeguard the interests of the people of the United States in the canal and zone: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep

2 resentatives of the United States of America that