Word: panamanians
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...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...
...accusations against Moisés Torrijos, now Panama's Ambassador to Spain, went back to 1971, when two Panamanians were arrested at New York's Kennedy Airport carrying 155 lbs. of heroin. A federal grand jury subsequently handed down a sealed indictment?which the Justice Department unsealed last week?charging that Moisés had helped to arrange the smuggling operation. Along with the indictment, antitreaty Senators cited a four-year-old, 20-page Senate intelligence committee report, also released last week, which said that "some sources" had testified that President Torrijos "knew about" drug trafficking by his brother and other Panamanian...