THE AMERICAN CANAL IN PANAMA: THE RELINQUISHMENT

By William Drummond

A series of Treaties occurred from 1903 through 1955 that slowly unraveled the right of the United States to effectively govern the Canal.

This book begins with my life while working as an employee of the United States government, but it could have been written about any government employee. 

President Carter used all the office

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Canal Zone Public Information Corporation
• Release date: Nov 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9781535613996

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Copyright © 2018 William Drummond

All rights reserved. No part(s) of this book may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form, or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval systems without prior expressed written permission of the author of this book.

ISBN:

ePub: 978-1-5356-1399-6

Kindle: 978-1-5356-1400-9

DEDICATION

I want to dedicate this book to my wife, Nivia Arce, Cepeda de Drummond, my sister-in-law, Melva Montenegro, several Canal Zone union representatives, especially Chuck Wall, several Canal Zone community representatives and activists, especially Mike, Charlene, and Ralph James, several congressmen, Representatives Leonor Sullivan, Ralph Metcalfe, Daniel Flood, and especially John Murphy, and their legislative representatives, especially Terry Modglin, and several senators, especially James Allen, Strom Thurmond, and Jesse Helms, and their legislative representatives. Without the timely help from these people, and others too many to mention, I doubt that I would be alive today to write this trilogy.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to thank Martin Olson, past president of local AFGE 1798, and Hugh Boyle, past secretary-treasurer of AFGE 1798, who, for good or bad, talked me into taking the job as the president of the Canal Zone Police union.

I want to especially thank Victor Joseph, the secretary-treasurer of AFGE, and Ricky Royo, now deceased, the first vice president of our union while I was president. Without these men, I could not have accomplished the little that I did. Just as important, my special heartfelt thanks go to all of the police and Canal employees who held true to the fight against the Canal giveaway.

OBJECTIVE

This trilogy is partially written in the first person, but it is not a book, per se, about me. It is a book about the evolution of an employee, any employee, who thought enough about his or her fellow man or women and their country to try to make a difference.

Several of my children, as well as my friends and acquaintances, have shown an interest in my activities in the Canal Zone. For many people that lived there, the Canal Zone was considered heaven on earth. I was no exception. However, in this trilogy, I have left out most of the good times and personal bad times, unless they helped to tell my story. I have no interest in purposely affecting other lives. This is a trilogy about the political history of the Panama Canal, and by extension, about one man’s evolution in his employment, his union, and political activities while living in the Panama Canal Zone from 1964 until 1984. It is an abbreviated political history of the Canal that led up to that time, and after the United States finally left the Canal.

WHY I DID WHAT I DID

Iwas a local AFGE union president, not well educated, not too bright, and not well liked. I was an unregistered union and anti-treaty lobbyist, for a good deal of my employment while living in the Canal Zone. Based upon these inherent negative attributes, one would wonder why any sane man would want to take on this life-destroying endeavor? My answer to that question is, and was, simple.

Aside from the fact that I am, and I was, a creature of impulse, from the beginning of my Canal career, I thought that I was in a position to make a difference. I knew that no one else would step forward to fill that position as a police-union representative, and because of that position, an anti-treaty lobbyist. Of course, the reader will decide if I was effective or not! Considering the historical facts, I believe I will get the short end of that stick.

I originally wrote this portion of my life while living in the Canal, primarily to inform my children and grandchildren what I did, and what I did not do, in the hope that they would learn from my mistakes. However, after completing the first draft of my autobiography, dealing with my whole life, including my activities in the Canal Zone, I felt that this writing illustrated a more universal, and in some respects, a greater moral, and historic value that could benefit others as well.

This writing does not offer any profound solutions to what I considered the waste, fraud, corruption, and incompetence that occurred over the giveaway of the Canal. Waste, fraud, corruption, and incompetence, I believe, were, and still is, inherent throughout our government.

As I point out, this profound corruption and incompetence did not start with the giveaway of the Panama Canal, and to date, it has not ceased since the Canal giveaway. If anything, the corruption and incompetence have gotten worse. So much for the phrase practice makes perfect.

To point to a beginning, when corruption and incompetence raised its ugly head and had an effect on the Canal giveaway, one would have to travel back in time to when the idea of a canal became a conceptual idea within the United States. As soon as our government began using taxpayer funds to alleviate financial crises, or began financing large public–private projects, corruption and incompetence became rampant.

I don’t believe there is any single solution to such a problem. However, there is a solution that already exists, just waiting to be utilized. Somehow, there has got to be a better way, if our country is to continue to exist for the benefit of us all.

MY SPECIAL THANKS GO OUT TO THE LITTLE MAN WITH BIG IDEAS, MILES DUVAL, JR.

My interest in the history of the Panama Canal occurred because of a chance meeting with a man by the name of Miles DuVal, Jr.

I was sitting in a congressional House office in Washington, D.C., occupied by the chairwoman of the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, Leonor Sullivan. I was discussing union business with one of the chairwoman’s legislative assistants, Terry Modglin. Mr. DuVal walked into the office and was introduced to me as the special legislative assistant to Congressman Daniel Flood, from Pennsylvania. Mr. DuVal didn’t say much. He asked me where I was staying in Washington, passed out some papers related to the Canal, and he left.

At the time, I thought Mr. Duval and I had no mutual interests and dismissed him as just another single-issue advocate, common in Washington, D.C. I was a union activist, interested only in getting a better deal for my members, and he was a diehard Canal historian, dedicated to modernizing the Canal by having the United States build a third locks system.

That same evening, I received a telephone call from Captain DuVal at my hotel, and he asked me to meet him at the Cosmos Club, where he lived. At the time, I was hesitant to agree. I had spent all day lobbying the hill, and I was about to go down to the hotel bar to unwind. I was pretty sure he didn’t have any information that I could use as a union representative. However, knowing that you can get useful information where you least expect it in Washington, I agreed to meet him.

When I arrived at the Cosmos Club and went inside, I was sure I had made a mistake. The place was filled with old men sitting around a large sitting room in high-back overstuffed chairs, smoking cigars or pipes, drinking wine or liquor from fancy glasses, and discussing issues that old men discuss. I recall that the great room was equipped with anterooms on, at least, one side.

DuVal directed me into one of those empty anterooms and, on a large table, rolled out an engineering drawing of the Canal with the depiction of the third locks. He proceeded to lecture me on the history of the Panama Canal, and the need for a third locks. He also gave me two of his books and told me he was in the process of writing a third book that would complete his trilogy.

He was an old man then, and I thought I would humor him by accepting his gifts and advice. When I returned to the hotel, out of curiosity, I began reading one of his books. I was astonished at how little I knew of the history of the Canal as it related to our Western civilization. It gave me a better understanding of the Canal, and how important it was to the United States, and indeed to the whole Western world.

I studied Western civilization in the Canal Zone College, but DuVal’s history of Western civilization was nothing like the history I studied. All the dates, times, and events were generally the same, but the motivation, the reason for being, was sorely lacking in the history I studied. He brought that history to life.

His history was a history that had a consistent goal, made by men not just eager to get rich, but more importantly, eager to discover, and to build a Canal that would make their country great, or allow it to exist at all.

Duval’s history of civilization isn’t just about the past. It is about a civilization striving for the future, not yet met. Unless a person understands that idea, they will never understand why the Canal, or any Isthmian canal, was, and still is, important to the United States, and for that matter, the rest of the world.

The Canal story is intricately woven into the inherent motivation and expansion of the Western world at every turn. I learned that an Isthmian route is as important to the United States today as it was even before there was a United States.

In time, I thought of Captain DuVal as my mentor. To me, he was no longer the spry little old man that would dart from one congressional office to the next, delivering papers of one type or another, barely speaking to anyone. To me, he was a giant intellect with few peers. He used to tell me, Don’t accept at face value the information I present in my books. Go to the Library of Congress and fact check that information. Most of it is all there. I did that, and he was right. Every time I visited Washington, for any reason, I made it a point to visit him. He helped me in so many ways I cannot describe. I don’t even know if he liked me. I have always been a hard person to like, but he never passed up a request to help me on one issue or another.

Captain DuVal entitled one of his books Cadiz to Cathay, and it was the first book that I read. That phrase is not unique to Captain DuVal. The phrase encapsulates the motivation for the spread of Western civilization. It is a phrase familiar to most historians, or novices like me that have taken the time to study the subject. DuVal took those three words and brought them to life in his books. Sometime in June of 2016, provided there is no delay, Captain DuVal will have gotten his third locks.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Objective

Why I Did What I Did

My Special Thanks Go Out To The Little Man With Big Ideas, Miles Duval, Jr.

PREFACE

An Inherent Breeding Ground For Incompetence And Corruption

Money Means Power

Freedom Lost, Power Gained

The Almighty Agenda

Inherent Self-interest By The Little And The Great

PART THREE: THE RELINQUISHMENT

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE AGREEMENT CONCEIVED IN 1904 WAS RATIFIED IN 1926

The Tripartite Agreement

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: EACH TREATY MEANT LESS UNITED STATES CONTROL

The 1926 Kellogg–alfaro Treaty

The 1936 Treaty Of Friendship And Cooperation

The Treaty Of Mutual Understanding And Cooperation

Cuba’s Revolution Spreads To Panama

The 1960 And 1962 Flag Agreement

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: THE RELINQUISHMENT, THE FINAL ACT

The Evolution Of A Canal Employee

The 1964 Riots

The Wonder Of The Canal

What Led To The ’64 Riots?

The Oligarchy Competition

The Rite Of Passage

The Fight Carefully Orchestrated Was On

The Flag That Flew

Panama Breaks Off Diplomatic Relations

The Politics Of The 1964 Riots

Back To The Barracks One Last Time

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: A LESSON IN BUREAUCRATIC AND PERSONAL CORRUPTION AND INCOMPETENCE IN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

The Training Period

Police Probation And A Personal Vacation

My Social Life And Introduction Into The Patrol Force

Wild Animals Should Remain That Way

Williamson Place, Live And Let Live – It Didn’t Matter To Me

My Love Life As A Policeman, And The Politics Of The Police Force

There Is Always One In Every Crowd – The Canal Zone Police Characters

The Canal Zone Police Union

I Thought My Vacation Was Over

New Life With A Target On My Back

I Decided To Stay In Panama, At Least For A While

Venison Was On The Menu

The Six-Foot Chinaman

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: AN ATTITUDE OF GREAT EXPECTATIONS TURNED TO GREAT PESSIMISM

The Police Promotion System

The Changing Of The Guard

Everyone Was Fighting For That Promotion

My Early Social Life Within The Canal Zone, And The Love Of My Life

How I Met My Wife

The Fight For Supremacy

The Terrible Patient, Misery Liked Company

Our First Child

My Fight With The Housing Office

Our First Vacation To The States

CHAPTER NINETEEN: FROM EIGHTH GRADE TO INSULT

My Life As A College Student

An Insult, Remembered Well

CHAPTER TWENTY: THE POLICE UNION NEEDED REPRESENTATION

My Activities As A Union Representative

The Grievance Representative From Hell

The James Grievance

The Police Slush Fund

The Marks Grievance The Patchouli Incident

The Second Marks Grievance

The Marks Grievance Hearing

The Yearly Fight To Keep Our Wage Base

The Class Action That Won The Battle But Lost The War

The Need For More Political Influence

The Non-profit Public Information Corporation

Building An Empire

An Unsettling Surprise

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: ANTI-TREATY LABOR-RELATED ACTIVITIES

Labor Representative/Anti-treaty Activist

The Canal Job Action Of 1976

The Pestillo Report

The Special Assistant To The Governor

The Union Contacts Within The Canal Government

The Labor Union Contacts In Washington

Rumors Abound

The Rally That Started It All

The Sickout Problem Was Part Of The Treaty Problem

My Activities In Anti-treaty Politics

The Sickout Two Years Later

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: POLITICS AND TREATIES

Panama Politics At Its Best

Negotiations In An Environment Of Corruption And Oppression

The Beginning Of A Movement

First Came The ’67 Treaties

Panama’s 1968 Election

The Junta Power Consolidation And The Fight For Control

A Sharp Turn To The Left

The Treaty Negotiations

The Threat Real Or Not

The Plan Was Put Into Action

My Detention By The Panama National Guard

There Is Always A Mouse In The Woodpile

Our Anti-treaty Contacts In The Congress

The Reach Out By The Reagan Camp, Opportunity Lost

The Million-Dollar Refusal

The Treaty Signed

The Suit Against Carter

The National Union Orchestration

The Fight For A Seat At The Table

The Shock Of My Short Political Life

The 1978 Treaty Debates

My Last Grievance Hearing: Representing Myself

The Last Request

The Return To The Canal Zone And The Reception

The Hearing For First Amendment Rights

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: TREATY RATIFIED PAPERS EXCHANGED

The Implementing Legislation

What Was The Cost To The Taxpayer For The Giveaway Of The Canal?

What Did The Taxpayer Get For The Canal Turnover?

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: REGIONAL CHANGES, NEGLECT, AND SUBVERSION

The Carter Administration’s Effort To Depose A Right-wing Dictator For A Left-wing Dictator

Subversion And Crony Capitalism

The Multi-national Need For Stability

Senate Treaty Activities Were Pro And Con

The Carter Administration Also Had A War Room That Was The Finest That Money Could Buy

The Release Of False Information And Cover-up By The U.S. And Panama

Panama’s Drug Trade

Panama’s Human Rights Violations Murder Was Not Uncommon

Follow The Money

Understanding What Was In The Treaties

The Transition Period – Joint Patrols

One Example Of National Guard Top-down Structure

Unexpected Consequences

The Torrijos Government And The Corruption

The Transition, And My Union Activities

After The Transition: The Canal Protection Division

After The Transition: The Pedro Miguel Locks Division

It Was Time To Go

The Oppression Only Increased

From 1981 To 1989, The Lead-up To A Fruitless War

Noriega’s Rise And Fall From Grace Under Reagan And Bush

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: THE ROAD TO A POLITICAL VACUUM

The Just Cause Operation Begins

Endara’s Police Force

World Opinion Of Bush’s War

The People Of Panama Had Their Say

The Endara Government

The Money Laundering Of The Endara Government

The U. S. Banking Industry, With The Help Of Torrijos, Created The Secrecy Laws In Panama Bush Was Not The Man To Destroy Their Empire

Drugs Filled The Vacuum Caused By Just Cause

The Endara Economy

A Fragile Government, A Weakened Security Force

The Changes In The Panama Banking Laws Were Not Lost On The United States Banking Industry

Who Was Robert Pastor?

The Balladares Presidency

The First Balladares Clinton Meeting

The Haitian Boat People

The Cuban Boat People

Support Of The Prd

A Slap In The Face

Ruling By Decree, And Panama’s Entrance Into The World Trade Organization

The Second Clinton Balladares Meeting

Panama As A Forward Operating Location (fol)

Balladares’s Drug Corruption And Money-laundering Connections

Who Was Castrillon?

The Money-laundering System

Balladares’s Move To Privatization, And Crony Capitalism, Corruption, Despotism, And Bribery

The Prudhoe Oil Transshipment Facility

Government Procurement By Panama Law, Or By Government Action

The Panama Energy Sales: A Source Of Millions For The Balladares Administration

The Poor Subsidize The Rich

Television Control In Panama

Balladares’s Move To Privatize Gambling In Panama

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: CHINA’S OBJECTIVES

China Influence On Clinton And Balladares

The Balladares Human-trafficking Scheme

The Clinton Administration Visa Scandal

Elizabeth Mann Vs. Jianwei Ding

Charles M. Parish Jr.

Johnny Chung

Liu Chao Ying

Robert Luu

The Riady-clinton Corruption

Webster Hubbell

The Riady Influence

John Huang, James Riady, Charley Trie

The Cox Report On China’s Espionage The Theft Of Our Nuclear Warheads

Stolen U.S. Missile Technology

The Chinese Power Structure

Li Kay-Sing

Wang Jun

Long Beach: Proposed Lease By China Overseas Ocean Shipping Company (cosco) At Former Naval Base

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: THE PANAMA PORTS SYSTEM GIVEAWAY AND THE PANAMA PIERS SCHEME

What Was The United States Response To The Bidding Process And Law-5?

And What Did The People Of Panama Gain From This Agreement?

The Panama Railroad

The Third Locks

Formal Opening Of The Canal And Third Locks Comparison

The Nicaragua Canal, Competition Or Obsolescence

Corruption Within The United States Government

Self-interest

A Simple Solution To A Long Festering Problem

The Inspector General’s Office’s Present Weaknesses

The Inspector General’s Office Future Strengths: Doubtful But Possible

The Whistleblower

The Congress And The Office Of The President

INDEX

PREFACE

The problems that I write about occurred in the Panama Canal Zone, but as I will point out, they also occurred in other agencies within the United States government, and in the history leading up to the giveaway of the Canal.

I have no doubt that the problem of corruption within our government has occurred, and will continue to occur, as long as our government continues to exist.

Ironically, it seems that, the larger our government becomes, under the pretense of protecting the citizens of the United States from one problem or another, the more incompetent, and corrupt our government becomes.

I could waste time here and suggest that our Constitution limits what our federal government is required to do, but that is not what occurred, that is not what is occurring today, and no doubt, that is not what will continue to occur in the future.

Today, our federal government has taken on every issue that may or may not affect every person in the United States. As a result, states’ rights, indeed, more importantly, individual rights, to a great extent, have been relegated to the whims of the federal government.

AN INHERENT BREEDING GROUND FOR INCOMPETENCE AND CORRUPTION

You have heard this song before, but sometimes it deserves repeating. For a government to grow, it must first identify problems that need to be addressed for the benefit of its citizens. It really doesn’t matter if our federal government has a right to address those problems. They do it, and for the most part, they rely on the federal court system to approve of their actions.

As a result, an agency within the government is then created, if it doesn’t already exist, and charged with servicing the people that the problem allegedly affects. Once created, the head of that agency must justify the continued existence of that agency to the Congress, to the executive branch, and eventually, to the federal court system, but not necessarily to the citizens of the United States.

MONEY MEANS POWER

The almighty federal budget contains the food that feeds the beast. Have you ever noticed that, no agency is motivated to completely solve the problem that they were created to eliminate? If they did, they would cease to exist.

I don’t know of any agencies within our government that have been completely eliminated within the last fifty years. The name of the agency may change, but as long as the purpose for creating that agency still exists, that agency, or one just like it, will continue to exist. Left to its own devices, that agency will continue to grow.

The reason is simple. Every federal agency head fight to maintain, and eventually increase, his or her budget. The larger the budget, the more personnel the agency has, and the more power the agency head can acquire within the government.

FREEDOM LOST, POWER GAINED

Every president fights to own the objective for which that agency was created, provided the objective meets his or her agenda. Congressmen and congresswomen are motivated for the same reason, because they want that money to be spent in their districts. The more money spent in the congressperson’s district, the greater influence they have over their constituency.

The greater effect the federal, local, and state government has on an individual, the less influence and freedom that individual has over his or her own life.

The further removed a person is from his or her direct political influence over these entities, the less political influence individuals have on their own freedom. You need only observe the power the lobbyist has at the local, state, and federal level to understand what entity has the greater freedom and power.

Politicians and, increasingly, un-elected bureaucrats decide who will receive the benefit of the taxpayer’s dollar. Today, there are nearly as many people that do not pay taxes as there are people that do pay taxes. These people that do not pay taxes also have the right to vote. That dichotomy alone, among all others, has caused this country to become the victim of the politician.

The more dependent upon the whims of a politician a person becomes, the less freedom that person has, and the poorer he or she becomes. In the end, this country will be destroyed because of this one underlying problem. At the very least, we will no longer exist as a republic.

THE ALMIGHTY AGENDA

It is no secret that every president has an agenda that he or she wants to complete by the time they leave office. These people attain office by promising the voters specific actions while in office, which they may or may not fulfill.

Once in office, every president since George Washington has set about completing their agenda, which may or may not be in the best interest of the country, and which may or may not be what they promised in order to attain that office. Too often, the agenda is a reflection of the politics of the man or woman seeking the office of president.

It is, almost always, an agenda that reflects his or her personality, and/or the mutual agenda of the people surrounding that president. The voter makes his or her decision based upon the promises that may reflect the best interests of the country, but increasingly more often, they decide based upon their own self-interest.

INHERENT SELF-INTEREST BY THE LITTLE AND THE GREAT

This then is a trilogy about the increasing self-interest of men and women, over the greater good of their country and the greater good of their fellow man. It is about men and women in government and business that may have had all good intentions initially but went about trying to solve our foreign policy in such an incompetent and corrupt way that it made matters worse for the United States, the Republic of Panama, and even Central America.

In the aftermath, lives were destroyed, people were murdered and tortured, or forcefully deported from their own country, and the corrupt and self-interested prospered. In the end, the United States was forced to openly go to war with Panama, secretly intervene in Nicaragua, and, perhaps an exaggeration, almost bring down a Republican government as a result of the Iran Contra Affair, because of the incompetent and corrupt mistakes made by a previous government.

This book is not about the good times I had in the Canal Zone. I will describe how I observed, and sometimes participated in, the corruption of the United States government, starting with the individual, the Canal employee, and ending with the president and the Congress of the United States.

Sadly, after leaving the Canal Zone in 1984, I have observed no significant change in how our government behaves toward its own citizens, when conducting its foreign policy, or any other policy for that matter, but that is another story. It is a story that is unfolding to this very day.

After the Canal was opened, mutual interests were established and reinforced between the United States and the Panamanian oligarchy. However, no sooner had the United States gained the right to control the Canal than the relinquishment of that right began.

There has been a lot written and said about the illegitimacy of Philippe Bunau-Varilla as the special envoy of Panama, and what he did or did not do on behalf of Panama. He was, in fact, selected by the Panamanian oligarchy to represent them. I use that word loosely, because, arguably, at the time, there was not a legally established federal government in Panama. Panama was still a legal province of Colombia until the United States decided to recognize the oligarchy as the legitimate government of Panama and other countries followed suit.

Bunau-Varilla accomplished what he was charged to do. Panama became an independent country, and the United States agreed to build the Canal in Panama. Even before he was charged with this task, Bunau-Varilla helped to persuade the United States to build the Canal in Panama, and not in the several other areas that were considered at the time. The fact that he may have had other interests, which he publicly disclosed, does not detract from the effort that he made for the people and the government of Panama.

The fact that the oligarchy had an even greater self-interest in the outcome of the 1903 treaty has never been objectively discussed, but cannot be honestly denied, to my knowledge, in Panama or elsewhere. These men, the oligarchy, knew that they would become rich if the Canal was built in Panama, or they would become poor, or worse, if it was not. By their actions, these same men would have been content to accept a Colombian Canal Treaty, just so long as it was in Panama. They gambled, and they won, and it didn’t take those same people long, almost immediately, to begin crying about the terms of their own agreement. These were the founding fathers of the Republic of Panama.

In some writings, certainly in Panama, they were treated as honest men, tricked by the Frenchman Bunau-Varilla. They proved to be far from honest or, for that matter, courageous men. These men proved themselves to be duplicitous, and at the same time wholly naive. Panama obtained an almost perpetual source of income and employment, and the United States obtained a chronic, petulant child that it periodically placated throughout the following years.

At its inception, the Canal was built by a predominately outside workforce, basically supervised by a U.S. workforce. As a result, initially, most of the unskilled workers lived, and did all or most of their shopping in the Republic of Panama. Panama, rather than lowering their housing, food, clothing, and recreation prices to attract more patrons, raised them sometimes two or three times the normal rate to take advantage of the increase in the Canal personnel. The United States felt the need to intervene in order to maintain the level of its workforce. The work and the environment in the Canal was bad enough, but no one was going to continue working there if they couldn’t make and save any money doing so.

The United States set about building family and bachelor quarters for its employees, both for U.S. citizens and non-U.S. citizens alike. Dairy farms, bakeries, commissaries, recreational facilities, and the like all contributed to employee recruitment and retention. Obviously, all of these actions brought resentment from Panama, but by the year 1914, the Canal was built, and a stable workforce was established. The Canal was relatively free of disease and pestilence, and so were the cities of Panama and Colon, thanks to the work done by the United States. In addition, the cities of Panama and Colon received most of their electricity and water from the Canal.

It could be argued that the United States entered the relinquishment of the Panama Canal, even before the Congress voted to ratify the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty with Panama. But certainly, the formal agreement our government entered into, the Tripartite Agreement, was a clear indication that the United States was headed toward the relinquishment of the Canal, long before President Carter came to power.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE AGREEMENT CONCEIVED IN 1904 WAS RATIFIED IN 1926

THE TRIPARTITE AGREEMENT

After failing to convince the French that the United States violated the 1848 treaty and the 1878 concession, the government of Colombia decided to again appeal to the United States for reparations. General Rafael Reyes left Paris and replaced General Marroquin as president of Colombia. Both men were conservative politicians, and effectively dictators of Colombia. The United States appointed Mr. Russell as minister to Colombia. The Republican Party controlled the United States government.

Initially, Colombia put forward a lengthy letter of protest from their minister of foreign relations, Mr. Luis Carlos Rico, dated April 12, 1904, to Mr. Alban G. Snyder, the minister of the United States in Colombia. The letter contained a detailed history of Colombia, the early Canal issues, and the events leading up to the Panama Revolution. The claim he made was that the United States violated the treaty of 1848, the neutrality laws established by international right, and the law of concessions made between the Panama Canal Company and Colombia.

In October 21, 1905, Mr. Diego Mendoza Perez, the minister of Colombia in Washington, sent a letter to Mr. Elihu Root, the United States secretary of state, demanding arbitration on the matters presented by Mr. Rico in 1904. Both letters were dismissed by Secretary Root. In 1906, the United States sent Minister John Barrett to Colombia. President Reyes instructed his Minister Valencia, a delegate to the Rio conference, to ask for renegotiations with the United States and discussions of mutual matters with Secretary Root. Realizing that Minister Mendoza was getting nowhere, Reyes announced an early appointment of Enrique Cortes as Colombia’s minister in Washington, with instructions to suggest a new treaty to replace the 1846 treaty, with the same privileges enjoyed by Panama. In turn, Colombia would recognize Panama, and Panama’s assumption of a proportionate share of the national debt it accrued when it broke away from Colombia.

Minister Cortes negotiated these terms from 1906 until 1909. In February 1909, the United States signed the treaty. The United States sent Mr. Thomas Dawson to Colombia with the treaty. The Colombian congress was to meet on February 22, 1909, to discuss and ratify the treaty. Not surprisingly, the Colombian Congress erupted in turmoil. Some delegates were opposed to the terms of the treaty. Some delegates were insulted by the offer of $2,500,000 dollars that the United States had offered as part of the treaty. Other delegates were intent on using the treaty to overthrow General Reyes’ dictatorship.

As a result of this turmoil, the Colombian Congress was dissolved, and a new congress was expected to convene on July 20, 1909. Before that could happen, a bloodless coup took place. In 1910, through a popular election, Carlos E. Restrepo, a conservative, became president of Colombia. He set about reorganizing the government and reintroduced the treaty. One of the terms of the Colombian acceptance of that treaty was an apology from the United States.

In 1910, the Republican Party was still in control of the United States government, and an apology, which is what the Colombian government wanted, was not going to happen. By 1911, Theodore Roosevelt, a true progressive, became disappointed with President William Taft, and split the Republican Party. He gained support from a group of Republicans from Ohio Republicans, Taft’s home state. The 1912 primaries went for Taft. Undeterred, Roosevelt ran as a progressive and created the Bull Moose Party. After an assassination attempt, Roosevelt was forced to remove himself from the campaign, and eventually lost the election. Taft, a single-term president, lost to Wilson.

In 1913, the United States submitted the following proposals to Colombia: recognition of Panama, the granting of coaling stations in San Andres to the United States, and ceding to the United States the option to build another canal along the Atrato route.

In return, the United States would pay Colombia $10,000,000 dollars, and grant Colombia special privileges related to the Panama Canal. In addition, the United States would agree to arbitration, with the possibility of $49,000,000 going to Colombia. The offer ended with a veiled threat that if Colombia did not agree to these proposals, the Atrato district could go the way of the Panama district. Of course, Colombia rejected these proposals. Colombia responded by insisting on an apology, and $50,000,000. The United States rejected the Colombian counter proposal.

In 1914, the Democrat Woodrow Wilson had no problem inserting an apology into the treaty proposals. He appointed William Jennings Bryan as secretary of state. Bryan had been a recurrent presidential nominee and was previously defeated by Taft in 1908. In addition to the apology, Bryan gave Colombia special privileges in the use of the Panama Canal and promised to pay Colombia $25,000,000 dollars. These special privileges would have been in violation of the 1903 Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty, as well as the 1901 Hay–Pauncefote Treaty, and the principles of the 1888 Convention of Constantinople. Obviously, Wilson was not concerned with previous commitments made by the United States.

Colombia quickly ratified the treaty. The United States House of Representatives also ratified the treaty. However, the United States Senate, sufficiently controlled by the Republicans, rejected it. The treaty was sent to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and buried. The Colombian minister, Betancourt, and others tried to revitalize the treaty with little success. In 1915, Minister Betancourt threatened to withdraw Colombia from the Pan-American Union if the United States didn’t act on the matter. On December 15, 1915, he was assured the United States would act soon.

In 1916, when the Committee on Foreign Affairs finally reported the treaty out, they reduced the payment to $15,000,000 dollars, and made the apology an expression of mutual regret. Colombia felt insulted again.

Between 1916 and 1919, Colombia discovered oil. The rush was on to obtain oil-drilling concessions from Colombia. However, Colombia made it clear that there would be no concessions given to American companies, until the treaty was resolved in favor of Colombia.

As secretary of state, Bryan set about concluding the treaty, however, the First World War broke out, and the treaty was put on a back burner. The treaty was finally ratified on April 4, 1921. From 1903 until 1921, the United States and Colombia had no direct relations, unless it was connected to the Panama Canal question.

The origin of this treaty can be traced back to the meeting Cromwell allegedly had with General Reyes in 1904. It is safe to say that, for Mr. Cromwell and General Reyes, it was all about the money.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

EACH TREATY MEANT LESS UNITED STATES CONTROL

THE 1926 KELLOGG–ALFARO TREATY

In 1926, the Kellogg–Alfaro Treaty was presented to the Panama National Assembly to address some of the objections Panama had with the United States related to the Canal. That treaty was rejected, to some degree because of the insistence of Harmodio Arias and Domingo H. Turner, two of the most outspoken opponents of that treaty.

THE 1936 TREATY OF FRIENDSHIP AND COOPERATION

Interestingly, ten years later, Harmodio Arias, president of Panama, signed the 1936 General Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which eliminated the intervention clause of the 1903 treaty, and gave Panama sovereignty over its own airspace. The treaty was designed to ameliorate the general animosity that had been festering in the countries of Latin America over the years. Of course, it did not do that. In 1940, Arnulfo Aria, Harmodio Arias’ brother, was elected president, objected to the United States establishing military bases in Panama, and was ousted by the Panama police force in October 7, 1941, after he sought to maintain Panama’s neutrality in the Second World War. True or false, there had also been a persistent rumor that he allowed Germany to set up a secret military base in the interior of Panama.

In 1942, Ricardo Adolfo de la Guardia, the president of Panama, granted the establishment of over one hundred U.S. United States bases. After the war, in 1947, the Panama assembly rejected a new defense agreement, and the United States removed all its bases from Panama, with the exception of those located within the Canal. At that time, the United States removed every building at every military installation down to the concrete slab. Panama was not happy. They expected that the United States would allow those buildings to remain after they left.

THE TREATY OF MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING AND COOPERATION

In 1955, under the Treaty of Mutual Understanding and Cooperation, Panama was granted further economic benefits and rights.

CUBA’S REVOLUTION SPREADS TO PANAMA

In 1958 and 1959, further extensive student rioting occurred, some at the direction of Carlos Arellano Lennox and Floyd Britton, and some from Panamanian political pressure. These riots occurred over the right to fly the Panamanian flag within the Canal Zone.

An interesting story occurred in 1959 that clearly showed how pervasively the Soviet Union, and in particular, the Cuban government, a client state of the Soviet Union, had become involved in the manufactured unrest in Panama.

In April of 1959, there had been rumors spread throughout the local and international news media that a failed coup was attempted by Roberto Arias while Prince Phillip of Great Britain was making an official visit to Panama, and that Roberto Arias’ wife, Dame Margot Fonteyn, a world famous ballerina, was actively involved in that attempted coup. Dame Fonteyn had obtained her title not three years earlier from the Queen of England herself. Roberto Arias, onetime ambassador to Great Britain, was the son of Harmodio Arias, the ex-president of Panama, who served in 1936. Harmodio Arias was the brother to Arnulfo Arias, who was elected president of Panama three times, but never served a full term in office because of his populist, anti-American, and revolutionary views. The facts are that, after the failed coup, Dame Fonteyn was held in jail for about one day, and Roberto Arias escaped arrest and fled to Brazil.

At the time, coup attempts in Central America were a dime a dozen, and of little interest to the public of the United States. But this attempted coup would become quite interesting. What was later revealed by Dame Fonteyn, while in jail, to the British ambassador to Panama, Sir Ian Henderson, was shocking and covered up by all concerned.

Dame Fonteyn stated that the coup attempt was supported by Fidel Castro, and that she and her husband met with Castro in January 1959, apparently soon after Castro took control of the government of Cuba after successfully conducting his own coup on January 1, 1959. Castro had promised them aid to overthrow the Panamanian regime. That aid would include men and arms.

Dame Fonteyn stated that she knew that her husband was gunrunning, and that she used her yacht for the military effort that included 125 Cuban soldiers. The men and weapons landed in Panama before they were spotted by a local fisherman, who reported their presence to the Panama government. She further stated that when she was convinced that the coup had failed, she tried to get rid of some of the evidence but failed to hide letters from Judy Tatham, and Arias’ address book that held the names of his followers and alleged supporters, Hollywood personalities such as John Wayne and Errol Flynn. John Wayne’s name would again surface after the 1969 military coup as a friend or business partner of the military regime of Omar Torrijos. Apparently, after 1969, John Wayne was interested in investing in the Panama shrimp business with Torrijos and Noriega.

After her release from jail, Dame Fonteyn was put on a plane to New York, and met with two of her friends and alleged co-conspirators, Judy Tatham and Alistair McCloud, who helped organize the attempted coup. She and Tatham were later put on a plane to London, and met with John Profumo, the minister of the British Foreign Office in London.

Her husband later surfaced in Panama in 1964 and was shot in the back. As a result of his injury, he was paralyzed and left Panama for good.

THE 1960 AND 1962 FLAG AGREEMENT

In 1960, under President Eisenhower, Panama was granted the right to fly the Panama flag at two specific locations within the Canal Zone.

In 1962, under President Kennedy, and in agreement with Panama President Roberto F. Chiari, the United States granted Panama the right to fly their flag at fifteen other locations within the Canal. These concessions only led to more demands.

It was in the mid-fifties, and probably before that, the United States began recruiting Panama nationals as agents to help gather intelligence and disrupt agitation against the interests of the United States in Panama.

The Cold War was also playing a part in the political activities in Panama. Many of these so-called agents of the United States were also taking money and benefits from the Soviet Union, Cuba, and elsewhere, with the full knowledge of the government of the United States.

The riots of 1964 played a part in the United States–Panama relations, and again, the U.S. moved to placate the Republic of Panama.

After diplomatic relations were reestablished in April 3, 1964, between Panama and the United States, President Lyndon B. Johnson engaged in a major overhaul of U.S. relations with Panama. In addition, the United States pursued a strategy of extensive financial and equipment support for the national guard of Panama. This increase in support for the Panama National Guard, was noted by the constant, almost weekly parade of guard officers that attended social functions at the governor’s residence, and the southern commander’s residence, located just down the street from the governor’s residence.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

THE RELINQUISHMENT, THE FINAL ACT

THE EVOLUTION OF A CANAL EMPLOYEE

My story as a Canal employee began after the 1964 riots in Panama. It could have been a story of any other Canal employee,