Word: panamanians
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...more substantive division arose. Half a dozen Democratic Senators-notably Edward Kennedy, George McGovern and Patrick Moynihan-agreed with Panama's protest against a reservation added to the first treaty by Arizona Democrat Dennis DeConcini, which seemed to imply that the U.S. was free to intervene militarily in Panamanian affairs whenever it chose. They warned that they would vote against the treaty unless a "noninterventionist" clarification was added. But DeConcini and several allies were just as insistent that his reservation not be repudiated...
...Senate vote was in doubt; so was the Panamanian reaction...
...would not budge, so the President, who needed all the votes he could get, gave in. With White House support, the reservation was approved by the Senate. On the face of it, the reservation did not seem to change significantly the original treaty and subsequent "understanding" between Carter and Panamanian Chief of Government Omar Torrijos that provided for the American defense of the canal if it was endangered. But by gratuitously spelling out the right of the U.S. to reintroduce troops into Panama for virtually any reason, DeConcini grievously offended Panamanian national pride. It was the issue of sovereignty that...
...Panamanian reaction was almost unanimously hostile. For the first time since Torrijos seized power in 1968, the nation's various factions were able to unite on an issue: they were all opposed to the reservation. Former Panamanian Foreign Minister Aquilino Boyd, who had negotiated the treaty with Henry Kissinger, denounced the reservation as "immoral because the strong once again are trying to wield excessive power over the weak." Said a U.S. official in Panama: "Idi Amin couldn't live with this reservation and survive." Aware that his leadership could be at stake, Torrijos complained: "Listening to DeConcini...
Torrijos badly needs the treaty to give a boost to Panama's economy. The pact would increase Panamanian canal revenues from $2.3 million a year to as much as $60 million if tolls are raised and traffic is sustained. But if forced to choose between economic malaise and national humiliation, Torrijos may have to abandon the treaty. Indeed, his country may give him no choice...