Office of the Historian

711F.1914/5–1548

The Ambassador in Panama (Hines) to the Panamanian Minister of Foreign Affairs (De Diego)

No. 566
Panamá, February 16, 1948.

Excellency: I have the honor to refer to my Note No. 533 of December 81, 1947,2 regarding the rejection by the National Assembly of Panama of the Defense Sites Agreement signed on December 10, 1947 and informing the Panamanian Government that evacuation of [Page 665] the remaining Defense Sites in Panama was under way. Reference is also made to the Notes exchanged between our two Governments with regard to the termination date of the Defense Sites Agreement of May 18, 1942,3 namely, the Foreign Office’s Note D.P. No. 3235 of August 31, 1946,4 and the Embassy’s Note No. 285 of October 12, 1946.5

As Your Excellency is aware, that agreement and its implementation, through the full cooperation of the two Governments, assured the effective protection of the Canal and played an important part in bringing about the successful termination of hostilities. Although my Government has maintained the position, as set forth in its Note of October 12, 1946, that it continued to be entitled, under the express terms of the 1942 Agreement, to the use of the defense sites until one year “after the date on which the definitive treaty of peace which brings about the end of the present war shall have entered into effect,” it has nevertheless taken the necessary measures to withdraw from those few remaining sites which had not already been returned to Panama under the provisions of the Agreement. These measures, taken in conformity with the understanding expressed in Article XIII of the 1942 Agreement, were adopted in deference to Panamá, following the action of its National Assembly on December 22, 1947.6

Inasmuch as the evacuation of the Defense Sites has now been completed, I have the honor, under instructions from my Government, to inform Your Excellency that the Government of the United States of America now considers the Agreement terminated and no longer in effect.

Please accept [etc.]

Frank T. Hines
  1. Not printed.↩
  2. Department of State Executive Agreement Series No. 359.↩
  3. For text of note, see Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. xi, telegram 554, September 1, p. 1103.↩
  4. The text of this note was provided Ambassador Hines in telegram 499, September 24, 1946. Hines informed the Secretary of State of its delivery in his telegram 656 from Panama, October 12, 1 p. m.; see Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. xi, pp. 1115 and 1123, respectively.↩
  5. See Foreign Relations, 1947, vol. viii, pp. 945 ff.↩