Editorial Note
The first meeting to draft the proposed agreement was convened on September 13, 1954, and meetings continued throughout September and October, first at a high level including President Remón and Ambassador Chapin and subsequently at a lower level. In telegram 74, dated September 6, 1954, Ambassador Chapin expressed his disappointment that domestic political pressures in Panama had apparently obliged President Remón to name members of the official Panamanian negotiating team to draft the agreement in order to protect himself against the attacks of political enemies (611.1913/9–654). At the September 28 meeting, members of the Panamanian drafting team raised objections to the substance of several articles on which Panamanian and United States negotiators had previously reached tentative agreement in Washington (telegram 107 from Panama City, dated September 29, 1954, 611.1913/9–2954). The Embassy reported in telegram 157, dated October 27, 1954, that disagreement on the wording of several articles still persisted after the final meeting of October 26. The telegram continued that President Remón was having a letter drafted in response to President Eisenhower’s letter of August 23, 1954, and that he planned to send Dr. Harmodio Arias to Washington to present the letter to Eisenhower in person. The Embassy indicated that Arias might make “one last desperate effort as personal appeal from Remon to Eisenhower for greater economic concessions”, and expressed the hope that the President would stand firm. (611.1913/10–2754)