Editorial Note
An exchange of letters dated December 7 and December 12, 1950, between the Governor of the Panama Canal Zone and Dr. Carlos Brin, Panamanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, constituted an agreement eliminating the need for vehicles to carry license plates of both the Canal Zone and Panama in order to operate throughout the Isthmus. After the agreement came into effect on January 1, 1951, a plate from either jurisdiction was valid in both. Texts of the two letters are enclosed with despatch 525 from Panama, January 10, 1951. (611.1913/1–1051)
In his letter of December 7, Governor Newcomer also mentioned that on November 15 a new Canal Zone regulation had taken effect. It allowed certain Panamanian vehicles to transit the Canal Zone by designated routes without undergoing the inspection which had previously been required by Zone authorities.
[Page 981]Documents in files 611.19 and 611.1913 for 1950 indicate that in June of 1950 the newspaper La Hora initiated public agitation for a corridor, under Panamanian jurisdiction, across the Canal Zone on the Pacific side of the Isthmus. These papers indicate as well that the public campaign stimulated negotiations which resulted in the two changes mentioned above.