The Torrijos-Carter Treaties


The Torrijos-Carter Treaties

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Written by Administrator

Thursday, December 28 2006

Besides diplomats, history buffs, and Panamanians, not many people know what the Torrijos-Carter Treaties are and what they stand for. Excluding the Panamanian Declaration of Independence in 1903, the Torrijos-Carter Treaty is probably the most important document the Panamanian people ever signed. The Torrijos-Carter Treaty is actually made up of two treaties. The first one is called The Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal or otherwise known as the Neutrality Treaty. The other is called the Panama Canal Treaty.

The Neutrality Treaty called for a permanent U.S. right to defend the canal from any threat that would harm it in any way or hinder the transport of goods. The treaty still stands today.

The second and more important of the two is called the Panama Canal Treaty which allowed for the transfer of the Canal Zone to Panama. The Canal Zone is an area which includes the Canal and 10 miles of land on each side of it's banks. In total the Canal Zone encompasses an area of 300,000 acres and 7,000 buildings that include warehouses, military facilities, schools, and private residences. According to the treaty, Panama would take over full control of the canal on January 1, 2000 at 12:00 pm.

On October 23, 1977 a 2/3 majority ratified the treaties in Panama and on March 16, 1978 the U.S. also ratified the Neutrality Treaty. The Panama Canal Treaty was ratified on April 18 of the same year.

An eight point declaration which laid the groundwork for the treaties was signed in 1974 by the Secretary of state Henry Kissinger and Juan Antonio Tack the Panamanian foreign minister .

But really the effort to put the Canal Zone back into the hands of Panamanians began shortly after the Hay-Bunau Varilla treaty was signed in 1903. For those of you who don't know the Hay-Bunau Varilla treaty, it was the a document which singed the Canal Zone over to the Americans in the first place.

The canal treaties in the seventies did not go over without a hitch, as there were many critics in the Senate. Most notably were the southern conservatives Jessie Helms and Strom Thurmond who believed that signing the Torrijos-Carter treaty was a surrender of one of our "most strategic assets to a hostile government". After Carter gave a speech addressing the issue, Strom Thurmond said, “The canal is ours, we bought and we paid for it and we should keep it".

Torrijos had a sneaky little plan if the turnover did not take place when it was supposed to. The plans called for a forceful take over the canal. The plan was that Noriega would send over some of his military specialists to the Canal Zone posed as fisherman and farmers. They would infiltrate the Canal Zone at around the time the turnover was supposed to take place and when the command was given in code over the radio they would attack the canal with rocket launchers.