In a heartfelt appeal during his visit to Jamaica, General Omar Torrijos urged support for Panama’s quest to regain full sovereignty over the Canal Zone. Speaking passionately about the emotional weight the issue holds for Panamanians, he recalled past struggles, including student protests and military support for the cause. While committed to peaceful negotiations, the general warned that, if diplomacy failed, Panamanians would respond as any dignified people would when pushed to their limit.

Published Thursday, April 22, 1976

Jamaica backs Panama on Canal

Torrijos ends 2-day visit

Gleaner Political Reporter

SUPPORT FOR PANAMA’S quest for sovereignty over the United States-owned Canal Zone was pledged by Jamaica’s Prime Minister Michael Manley, arising out of exchanges which took place between himself and General Omar Torrijos, chief of government of Panama, who visited the island during the past two days.
Manley gave the pledge at a press conference at Jamaica House, and it was also continued in a joint communiqué issued by both leaders at the conclusion of the talks.
At the press conference, which was given by General Torrijos and attended by Prime Minister Manley and the other ministers who had taken part in the discussions, Manley said the Jamaican Government not only supported Panama’s quest for sovereignty over the canal but also the line which the Panama Government had adopted in its negotiations with the United States.
“We have made it clear to international forums, and we have taken the opportunity to reaffirm our support for the Panamanian position,” he said.
In its text, the joint communiqué stated:
Prime Minister Manley agreed that the canal negotiations should be intensified so that they can be brought to a conclusion as soon as possible, and he reiterated the support of Jamaica for the legitimate aspirations of Panama to recover as soon as possible effective sovereignty and the full exercise of its jurisdiction over the so-called Canal Zone of Panama in order to obtain full and exclusive control within a reasonable period of time that should not go beyond the year 2000.
“Prime Minister Manley expressed to General Torrijos that in the same way as the Jamaican people helped in the construction of the Panama Canal, they will help with all means at their disposal in the recovery of the Canal.”
NOT THAT KIND
A question directed at the prime minister as to whether Jamaica would be prepared to offer “tangible support” if necessary, brought a quick response from General Torrijos.
Panama, said the general, was not seeking that kind of support. The problem was solely one involving the people of Panama, and they would have to find a way of solving it.
However, support given by Jamaica and other countries in international and regional tribunals – in fact, in any conference on the subject – was sufficient for Panama, he said.
In this regard, he would be seeking the moral support of all countries in the hemisphere, and the Caribbean area was a very important zone, carrying much weight in hemispheric conferences.
Asked whether he intended to initiate discussions and seek the support of other territories, General Torrijos said he had already made contact with Guyana, which he proposed to visit as soon as a date could be arranged.
Stating that one of his principal reasons for coming here was to consolidate Jamaican Government support for Panama’s quest for sovereignty over the canal, President Torrijos said he had given Prime Minister Manley a detailed report of the advances made so far in the negotiations with the United States.
ANOTHER WAY
He hoped that a solution to the problem would be achieved by 1977 through negotiation; but if Panama’s efforts to secure a peaceful solution to the problem failed, “we will have to seek another way”.
Later, in a definition of “another way,” the President said if peaceful approaches did not succeed, Panamanians would respond “in the same way as any dignified people respond when they can stand no more”.
His country was not acting in haste, General Torrijos emphasised. It was giving the United States 20 years to quit the canal, in the hope that, by negotiation, control would be transferred from foreign hands to Panamanian hands. The time given would afford opportunity to the USA to dismantle the 14 military bases it had in the Canal Zone.
Panamanians were aware that, when they assumed control of the canal, they would have to work harder, and they were prepared to do so, he said. He pledged that they would operate the canal so that no country would be “punished”, nor would there be any increase in the tolls charged. It was his view that, with efficient operation, the present tolls would be more than adequate to meet the cost of operating the canal.
Declaring that the subject of the canal was an emotional and sentimental one for the Panamanian people, General Torrijos said a total of 20,000 persons were employed to operate the 50 mile-wide canal, which made it possible to get from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific in eight hours.
DIFFERENCE
Of this number, 15,000 were Panamanians and 5,000 North Americans. The 5,000 earned more than the 15,000 Panamanians and enjoyed social benefits superior to those enjoyed by the Panamanians.
The general then added: “And, if they should take away the foreign police, the foreign judges, the foreign laws, the North American prison, then the Panamanian would have the assurance that, if he violates the law, he will not wake up in jail.”
He then traced the history of popular reaction to the canal issue by Panamanians, recalling specifically the student demonstration in 1964 and the tragedy of it, as well as the efforts by members of the armed forces to join the political movement in 1968, supporting the fight for sovereignty over the canal.
Summing up on his discussions with the Jamaican prime minister, General Torrijos said they also discussed NAMUCAR, the regional shipping line; the Latin American System (SELA); and political problems affecting the hemisphere.
Before giving the press conference, General Torrijos was conducted on a visit to Alcan Works, the trans-shipment port, and the Bernard Lodge sugar co-operative.
Also taking part in the press conference were the Panamanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Señor Aquilino Boyd; his Jamaican counterpart, Senator the Hon Dudley Thompson; the Panamanian Minister of Planning and Political Economics, Señor Ardito Barleta; and a number of government officials.
General Torrijos’ final official engagement on the island was a luncheon in his honour given by the Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon David Coore, and Mrs Coore, at Vale Royal.
He departed for home afterwards, in the private jet plane which brought him to the island on Tuesday morning.

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