711.1928/314: Telegram
The Chargé in Panama (Burdett) to the Secretary of State
[Received 1:40 p.m.]
5. President Arias before a conference of governors of Panamanian provinces on January 12th publicly announced that there would be no new treaty unless both parties could reach a satisfactory adjustment of their differences. Without naming specific critics of the administration he declared that the chief obstacle to the treaty was the attitude of the “patrioteros”.
He stated
“Our vital problem is our relation with the United States. It is natural at this time that we should be adversaries inasmuch as we are engaged in the discussion for a new treaty. But in Panama we have another domestic adversary, the patriotero. They imagine that to negotiate a new accord we must seize the hand of Secretary of State, tell him that the treaty of 19034 is null, and then begin the negotiations. It is inconceivable that when we are doing all that is humanly possible, the patrioteros should attack us.”
The speech has been given wide publicity.
- November 18, 1903, Foreign Relations, 1904, p. 543.↩