Time Essay: That Troublesome Panama Canal Treaty

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Yet the present anomaly remains: a small but proud nation cut in half by a huge waterway under the control of a foreign power. The arrangement may once have been economically justified, even a historical necessity, but it is a current indignity for Panamanians. As Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez told Carter: "The Panamanians feel exactly about the Canal Zone as North Americans would feel if the British owned the Mississippi River." In fact, Americans had much the same attitude as contemporary Panamanians when the Spanish and French (not the British) controlled the Mississippi at the turn of the 19th century. In 1956 America supported Egyptian sovereignty and condemned the British and French attempt to recover the Suez Canal. The U.S. has had too much experience with double standards in dealing with the Communist world to indulge in the same practice.

Q. Can Panama run the canal as well as the U.S.?

A. The American record is hard to beat. There have been remarkably few accidents or sinkings considering the amount of traffic. Yet there is no reason to assume that Panamanians cannot do as well; the Egyptians have learned to run the Suez Canal, which admittedly lacks the complex system of locks of the Panama Canal. Says a senior State Department official: "Nowhere is it written that you have to have a Georgia Tech degree to run the canal. The canal is damned important economically to the Panamanians. It is their only natural resource, and they will take care of it." Writes Vermont Royster, former editor of the Wall Street Journal: "For us, the canal is at most one adjunct to commerce and defense. For Panama, the canal is vital; the closing of the canal would be a disaster."

At the moment, Panama does not have the skilled manpower to take over the canal. But it has 23 years to train pilots, technicians and mechanics—a sufficient amount of time, one would think, since it takes a mere twelve years to train a brain surgeon. Panama has also said it would hire other nationals if there are not enough native citizens to do the job.

Q. Can the U.S. intervene militarily to protect the canal once Panama is in control?

A. No question has aroused more anxiety or opposition to the pact. Until 2000, the U.S. will control the canal and its military bases. After that the treaty states that the U.S. and Panama shall maintain the "neutrality" of the canal, a clause that seemed alarmingly vague to many people. When it became apparent that this concern was about to sink the treaty, Panama's head of state, General Omar Torrijos Herrera, went to Washington, and he and Carter issued a joint "statement of understanding." The "correct interpretation," they said, is that each country shall defend the canal against any aggressive act or other threat to its neutrality and shall make sure that it remains "open, secure and accessible." But the U.S. has no "right of intervention in the internal affairs of Panama." This seems to lead to a certain ambiguity. How can the U.S. defend the canal without somehow intruding in Panama's internal affairs? Treaty proponents admit the distinction is a fine one but think that it can be observed. The U.S. asks nothing more of Panama than a functioning canal.