711F.1914/414
The Panamanian Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs ( Goytía ) to the American Ambassador in Panama ( Wilson )10
Mr. Ambassador: I have the honor to address myself to Your Excellency with the purpose of hastening the conclusion of the Agreement concerning sites for bases for the defense of the Canal during the present conflict.
To facilitate the solution of the two points which seem of greatest interest to Your Excellency’s Government, namely, the inclusion of Article II as the basis of negotiation and the reservation on the part of the United States of certain attributes of penal jurisdiction applicable to citizens of the Republic who may threaten the security of the military installations, my Government would be able to accept the following additional amendments and clarifications:
1. Suppression of all specific reference to Articles II and X, by which the Agreement would have as its basis the global text of the clauses of the Treaty of March 2, 1936, and
2. Modification of Article I of the Agreement as follows:
“…11 These lands will be evacuated by the United States and will revert to Panama as soon as the state of emergency which motivates this temporary concession shall cease, it being understood that this state of emergency has ceased to exist upon the beginning of the demobilization of the reserve12 forces called to arms because of the present war against the Totalitarian Powers.”
[Page 580]The adoption of this principle offers the advantage of determining the moment in which the occupation of the areas under reference will become unnecessary by reason of the disappearance of all immediate or early danger of aggression, since the release from duty of the conscripts is always equivalent to the implicit declaration of the restoration of international order.
With reference to Article IV, which treats of the delegation to the United States of certain jurisdictional attributes within the areas destined to defense, it is appropriate to express that, even although the Penal Code in force in the Republic does not expressly contemplate the juridical location of the delinquent who makes an attempt against the security of military bases set up by an allied nation for the common defense within Panamanian territory, it does give the penalties corresponding to this class of crimes, in their two characteristic aspects:
- a)
- when the criminal acts of his own free will, and
- b)
- when he does so at the instigation of an enemy power: in the first case Article 213 is applicable, and in the second Articles 98 and 100, in relation to Article 105 of the Penal Code. The penalties provided in conformity with the gravity of the crime reach a maximum of 20 years and do not permit the release of the persons under trial during the investigation.
These precepts permit the Panamanian judicial authorities the use of a rigorous criterion in the application of penal arithmetic in those individuals excluded from the jurisdiction of the United States who in any way make an attempt against the installations for defense in the zones provisionally ceded.
I am in a position to affirm that the Panamanian Judicial Power, being fully aware of the gravity of the conflict, will act with diligence in the conduct of proceedings of this nature which may arise, with precision in the classification of the crime and with severity in the punishment of the infractor.
The foregoing statements strengthen the thesis that Panamanian citizens should be totally excluded from the penal jurisdiction delegated to the United States and should be submitted to the ordinary jurisdiction of their country, which is the territorial sovereign, except those cases in which Panamanian citizenship shall have been acquired for the purpose of conducting hostile acts against the Canal or against the Republic of Panamá.
I feel convinced that Your Excellency’s Government will consider as just the formula proposed for the term of occupancy and reversion of the areas destined to defense and as sufficient the securities that the Panamanians, excluded from the penal jurisdiction of the United States because of their quality of citizens of a sovereign land, who [Page 581] may make an attempt against the defense works within said areas will receive punishment in proportion to the gravity of the crime.
I take this occasion [etc.]
- Copy transmitted to the Department by the Ambassador in Panama in his despatch No. 596, February 7; received February 10.↩
- Omission indicated in the file translation.↩
- In note No. 3177, February 25, the Panamanian Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs informed the Ambassador that the word reserve was an error and should be eliminated (711F.1914/427).↩