Omar v. the Canal Zone

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For most Panamanians, however, the Canal is a far more serious worry than the politics of the Torrijos regime. As a former member of the government put it: "The manicured lawns and flower gardens of the Zone, the 50,000 Americans with a better living, the old degradations and racial discrimination —these are the causes of this claustrophobic frustration we Panamanians suffer. I'm with Omar."

So will be most of his countrymen —provided he can squeeze major concessions out of Washington. Despite the length and isolation of the Canal Zone, there is little danger of the U.S. being pushed out by force, but Washington does want to avoid accusations of Yankee imperialism. It is the U.S. Congress, however, and not the U.N. Security Council, that holds the power over ratification of any new Canal treaty, and Congress is adamantly opposed to anything suggesting a giveaway. "The whole shooting match will go down the drain unless Torrijos and Tack [Juan Tack, Panama's foreign minister] stop acting like fire-breathing monsters," said an Administration official last week. "They've been taking courses from Castro, and sure as the sun rises the Congress will not brook that stuff."