Torrijos-Carter Treaties: Panama marks 49 years by focusing on turning sovereignty into prosperity

Panama marked 49 years since the signing of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties with a message focused less on the historic achievement itself than on what must come next: turning sovereignty into prosperity.

Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha Vásquez said the treaties were not solely the result of negotiations between General Omar Torrijos Herrera and U.S. President Jimmy Carter. They also represented the outcome of decades of struggle by successive generations of Panamanians.

He paid particular tribute to the victims of Jan. 9, 1964, whose actions, he said, transformed a historic aspiration into a national demand. That struggle helped open the way to a solution based on diplomacy, negotiation, international law and multilateralism. Martínez-Acha also highlighted the role of Panamanian diplomacy and figures such as Roberto F. Chiari, who brought the Panamanian cause to the international stage after the 1964 events.

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It was not a declaration against the United States. It was a declaration in favor of Panama.

The minister said Panama advanced toward recovering its sovereignty without turning the United States into an enemy. Instead, he said, the country created the conditions for a new relationship based on mutual respect. Referring to Carter, Martínez-Acha said Panama could recognize his contribution without diminishing Torrijos's leadership or the broader Panamanian cause.

The treaties established the Canal's permanent neutrality and set in motion the end of the former Canal Zone and the transfer of the interoceanic waterway's administration to Panama. “The Canal is ours. Sovereignty is ours. Responsibility is ours. And the future is ours too,” Martínez-Acha said. He argued that the benefits of sovereignty should be visible in education, employment, investment, innovation, social mobility and the well-being of citizens, especially younger generations. He also called for future relations with the United States to rest on respect between two sovereign countries, cooperation and shared interests.

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The Canal is ours. Sovereignty is ours. Responsibility is ours. And the future is ours too.