Martín Torrijos: “The Panama of today exists because of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties”

Former Panamanian President Martín Torrijos says the country's present identity is inseparable from the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, signed 49 years ago. He described the recovery of sovereignty and Panamanian administration of the Canal as the result of a generational struggle.

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The Panama of today exists because of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, and the Panama we continue building tomorrow also depends on the opportunity we had, after a generational struggle, to recover sovereignty and administration of the Canal.

Speaking on the television program Mesa de Periodistas, Torrijos was asked how Panamanians could feel more directly the wealth and development generated by the Canal. He recalled that his administration created a program to direct Canal resources into local investment, which he said marked the beginning of decentralization in Panama.

“There must be a combination of the capacity of governments, working together, to find ways for Panamanians to feel the Canal's presence through specific benefits, as well as an opening of the Canal to society,” he said.

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There must be a combination of the capacity of governments, working together, to find ways for Panamanians to feel the Canal's presence through specific benefits, as well as an opening of the Canal to society.

Torrijos argued that the Canal's experience in managing water could benefit the country beyond the Canal watershed. He also said Panamanians understand what the expanded Canal represents, calling it a new Canal with greater capacity and possibilities than the waterway Panama received in 1999.

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That experience of the Canal, managing water, could contribute at the national level, not only within the watershed. The Canal could help share it.

Debate remains over the Canal's role in relation to the country's ports. Torrijos reiterated his view that the Canal could own those facilities, saying that arrangement might have resolved the issue involving Hutchison and its alleged unconstitutionality. He added that mismanagement and corruption allegations can cloud public perceptions of the Canal, while distinguishing those concerns from the operation of the waterway itself.

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Mismanagement and corruption allegations in some way cloud and tarnish the view Panamanians have of the Canal.