711F.1914/5–547

The American Ambassador in Panama (Hines) to the Panamanian Minister for Foreign Affairs (Alfaro)

No. 410

Excellency: I have the honor to refer to the proposed new defense sites agreement which Your Excellency handed me on April 9, 1947.28 This proposal incorporated certain principles which Your Excellency has stated are basic in the consideration of your Government, as regards the continued use of defense areas in the Republic of Panama.

In compliance with instructions which I have now received from the Department of State,29 I am pleased to inform Your Excellency that my Government has accepted, with certain modifications, the proposal submitted by Your Excellency. Accordingly, I transmit herewith an English translation of Your Excellency’s proposed defense sites agreement, embodying the above referred to modifications and including notes accessory to the agreement, which are to be considered an integral part thereof.30

Once Your Excellency’s Government shall have approved these modifications, I am confident that any details which may be pending solution can be negotiated expeditiously by the respective representatives of Panama and the United States, as provided for in Article III.

The accessory notes submitted herewith cover matters which my Government considers essential in order that the orderly and efficient administration of the defense sites is assured, from the time of the transition from the 1942 Defense Sites Agreement to the new one providing for the principle of “joint authority”.

I am confident that the Government of Panama shares the views of the Government of the United States of the importance of reaching an immediate agreement on this matter, and I therefore anticipate receiving Your Excellency’s acceptance.

Accept [etc.]

[File copy not signed.]
  1. See telegram 186, April 10, 2 p.m., from Panamá, p. 892.
  2. Supra.
  3. Enclosures not printed.