1977*

Panama Canal Negotiations

Remarks on the Agreement in Principle Reached with Panama. August 12, 1977

Good afternoon, everybody.

For 13 years, we have been engaged in negotiations for a Panama Canal treaty that would strengthen our security interr ests, be fair to ourselves and the people of Panama, and insure free international use of the Panama Canal in a spirit of cooperation and friendship among all nations in this hemisphere. In spite of difficulties and even bloodshed, each of my predecessors since President Lyndon Johnson has decided that this effort must be continued. And I'm pleased that it will now be completed during my own administration.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff and other principal advisers of mine have been involved in these talks at every stage. All of us believe that these agreements are good ones and that the implementation of the treaties incorporating these agreements are important to our long-term national interests.

Under the canal treaty that will now be prepared, we will have operating control and the right to protect and defend the Panama Canal with our own military forces until the end of this century. Under a separate neutrality treaty, we will have the right to assure the maintenance of the permanent neutrality of the canal as we may deem necessary. Our own warships are guaranteed the permanent right to expeditious passage, without regard to their type of propulsion or the cargo they carry. And the treaties will be a foundation for

a new cooperative era in our relations with all of Latin America.

As provided by our United States Constitution, I will seek the advice and consent of the Senate for the ratification of these treaties. I know that each Senator and each Member of the House of Representatives will give the utmost and careful consideration to these agreements-not only to the treaties themselves but to the positive influence that their approval will have in our own country and in our position in the world as a strong and generous nation.

We will work with Panama to assess the need for a sea-level canal and will also cooperate on possible improvements to the existing canal.

I believe that these treaties will help to usher in a new day in hemispheric relations. All of the countries in Latin America are joined with us in a conviction that a new treaty which properly responds to the Panamanian aspirations and fully preserves our own security and other interests will give us an opportunity to work together more effectively toward our common objectives.

Our two leading negotiators have been Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker and Ambassador Sol Linowitz, and they are here this afternoon to answer specific questions that you might have on the treaties themselves and the negotiations and agree ments that have been reached with Panama.

I'm glad now to introduce Ambassador Bunker and Ambassador Linowitz.

NOTE: The President spoke at 3:30 p.m. to reporters assembled in the Briefing Room at the White House.

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT CARTER

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents dated September 12

Mr. Secretary General and distinguished leaders from throughout our own country and from throughout this hemisphere: First of all, I want to express my deep thanks to the lead

ers who have come here from 27 nations in our own hemisphere-20 heads of state-for this historic occasion.1

I'm proud to be here as part of the largest group of heads of state ever assembled in the Hall of the Americas, Mr. Secretary General.

We are here to participate in the signing of treaties which will assure a peaceful and prosperous and secure future for an international waterway of great importance to us all.

But the treaties do more than that. They mark the commitment of the United States to the belief that fairness, and not force, should lie at the heart of our dealings with the nations of the world.

If any agreement between two nations is to last, it must serve the best interests of both nations. The new treaties do that. And by guaranteeing the neutrality of the Panama Canal, the treaties also serve the best interests of every nation that uses the canal.

This agreement thus forms a new partnership to insure that this vital waterway, so important to all of us, will continue to be well operated, safe, and open to shipping by all nations, now and in the future.

Under these accords, Panama will play an increasingly important role in the operation and defense of the canal during the next 23 years. And after that, the United States will still be able to counter any threat to the canal's neutrality and openness for use.

The members of the Organization of Ameri

All government officials attending the ceremony were observers, with the exception of President Carter and Gen. Torrijos.

can States and all the members of the United Nations will have a chance to subscribe to the permanent neutrality of the canal.

The accords also give Panama an important economic stake in the continued, safe, and efficient operation of the canal and make Panama a strong and interested party in the future success of the waterway.

In the spirit of reciprocity suggested by the leaders at the Bogotá summit [August 5-7, 1977], the United States and Panama have agreed that any future sea-level canal will be built in Panama and with the cooperation of the United States. In this manner, the best interests of both our nations are linked and preserved into the future.

Many of you seated at this table have made known for years through the Organization of American States and through your own personal expressions of concern to my predecessors in the White House, your own strong feelings about the Panama Canal Treaty of 1903. That treaty, drafted in a world so different from ours today, has become an obstacle to better relations with Latin America.

I thank each of you for the support and help that you and your countries have given during the long process of negotiation, which is now drawing to a close. This ag ment has been negotiated over a period of 14 years under four Presidents of the United States.

I'm proud to see President Ford here with us tonight. And I'm also glad to see Mrs. Lyndon Johnson here with us tonight.

Many Secretaries of State have been involved in the negotiations. Dean Rusk can't be here. He has endorsed the treaty. But Secretary of State William Rogers is here. We are glad to have you, sir. And Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is here too.

This has been a bipartisan effort, and it is extremely important for our country to stay unified in our commitment to the fairness, the

symbol of equality, the mutual respect, the preservation of the security and defense of our own nation, and an exhibition of cooperation which sets a symbol that is important to us all before this assembly tonight and before the American people in the future.

This opens a new chapter in our relations with all nations of this hemisphere, and it testifies to the maturity and the good judgment and the decency of our people. This agreement is a symbol for the world of the mutual respect and cooperation among all our nations.

REMARKS BY GENERAL TORRIJOS 2

Mr. President of the United States: I quote: "You and I know well how many points there are in the Treaty to which any Panamanian patriot would object." Letter from John Hay, United States Secretary of State, to Senator Spooner, January 20, 1904.

My presence here, together with the most representative leaders and statesmen of the hemisphere, attests to the end of many struggles by several generations of Panamanian patriots.

Our people, who have struggled with heroic perseverance to complete their independence, harbor no feelings of animosity against this nation which, through gigantic feats of technology, pierced the Isthmus of Panama and connected two oceans 8 hours apart.

However, what was for mankind a technological conquest became, through a distortion of history, a colonial conquest of our country. I say distortion of history because President Theodore Roosevelt himself stated publicly in Panama, I quote:

"President Amador Guerrero, we have not the slightest intention of establishing an independent colony in the Canal Zone." October 18, 1904.

Basically what sustained the hopes of the Panamanian people and strengthened their patience during all these years was the firm conviction that the people of the United States were not colonialists at heart, because you yourselves had been a colony and had fought heroically for your freedom. We feel that you, Mr. President, in raising the banner of morality over our relations, are representing the true spirit of your people.

2 Gen. Torrijos spoke in Spanish.

Latin America has stood by us both loyally and impartially. Its leaders have come to attend this ceremony in testimony of the fact that the religion and the cause of the Paramanian people are the religion and the cause of the hemisphere.

The presence of these leaders must herald a new and different era among us who live and sleep together in the hemisphere, so that a traces of the injustices which prevent us from dealing as equals may disappear. If one would be strong, one must also be just. You have changed imperial strength into moral strength.

Mr. President, there are two types of truths-logical truth and pleasant truth. In the name of logical truth, I want you to know that this treaty, which I shall sign and which repeals a treaty not signed by any Panamanian, does not enjoy the approval of all our people, because the 23 years agreed upon as a transition period are 8,395 days, because during this time there will still be military bases which make my country a strategic reprisal target, and because we are agreeing to a treaty of neutrality which places us under the protective umbrella of the Pentagon. This pact could, if it is not administered judiciously by future generations, become an instrument of permanent intervention.

However, what has been agreed is the product of an understanding between two leaders who believe that their nations should live together peacefully and who have the courage and the leadership to stand before their people armed only with the truth and their deep conviction of what is just.

In Panama the instrument of ratification will be a plebiscite which, more than just a plebiscite, will be the purest example of civie participation ever recorded in the political history of the republic. Ratification by this country will depend on the consensus of the Congress.

Esteemed friends of the Senate: Before leaving you, I should like to recall a thought of a man which is today more pertinent than ever. Abraham Lincoln said: "A statesman is one who thinks of future generations and a politician is one who thinks of the next elections." I return to my country convinced that the future of our relations rests in the hands of excellent statesmen.