Torrijos Carter Treaties
The Torrijos-Carter Treaties are two treaties between the United States and Panama signed by Panama's de facto Prime Minister General Omar Torrijos and US President Jimmy Carter on September 7, 1977 in Washington, DC .
With the two treaties, the two states regulated the future status of the Panama Canal and the Panama Canal Zone . The treaties replaced the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty from 1903, after which the territory was controlled by the United States as the outer territory of the United States .
The first of the two Torrijos-Carter Treaties is the Neutrality Treaty and establishes the permanent neutrality and functionality of the Panama Canal. The USA received the right to protect the channel from all dangers at all times. The second contract is the actual Panama Canal Agreement, which guaranteed transfer of control of the canal on January 1, 2000.
In Panama, the treaties were the subject of a referendum, in which a two-thirds majority voted in favor of the treaties on October 23, 1977. In the United States, the Senate ratified the first treaty on March 16, 1978, and the second on April 18, 1978. Then on June 16, President Carter traveled to Panama City to exchange the instruments of ratification .
Carter was severely attacked by conservative circles in the USA, especially the Republican hawks, for concluding this contract. Above all, the US military and the Bechtel Group - one of the world's largest plant manufacturers - saw themselves as the losers of this contract: The contract also included the closure of the School of the Americas and the training center for the jungle war of the United States Southern Command . The Bechtel Group saw itself excluded from the largest construction project of the century due to Torrijo's plans to build a new canal with Japanese help.
On October 1, 1979, the Panama Canal Zone Administrative Unit ceased to exist. From 1979 to 1999 the canal was under joint US-Panamanian control. On December 31, 1999 at 12 noon, sovereignty over the Panama Canal Zone was officially handed over to Panama. Since then, the Panamanian Autoridad del Canal de Panamá has been responsible for the operation, administration and modernization of the canal.
See also
- History of Panama
- Relations between Panama and the United States
- U.S. invasion of Panama in December 1989
Web links
- Text of the contracts in Spanish and in English
- April 18, 1978: Carter wins Panama Canal battle (Calendar sheet BBC on this day )
Individual evidence
- ^ John Perkins: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man - on the move in the service of the economic mafia, ISBN 978-3-442-15424-1 , Goldmann-Verlag, 6th edition, April 2007, p. 263
- ^ John Perkins: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man - on the move in the service of the economic mafia, ISBN 978-3-442-15424-1 , Goldmann-Verlag, 6th edition, April 2007, p. 264