Office of the Historian

110. Telegram From the Department of State to Secretary of State Kissinger and the Embassy in Panama1

Washington, January 20, 1976, 2125Z.

14080/Tosec 10021. Subject: Briefing Memorandum: Torrijos’ Adventure in Cuba January 10–15. To the Secretary from Rogers, Bunker concurring.

1. We have come out of this well.

2. Castro counseled Torrijos to be patient and peaceful in dealing with US on the negotiations. Torrijos publicly accepted that counsel.

3. Torrijos refrained from endorsing Cuban socialism. He said the two countries were taking different roads to achieve the goal of socio-economic justice. (David Binder, who went along, says that the Panamanians were “shocked” at some of the rigidities they saw). The headlines in Panama the day Torrijos returned were: “Torrijos does not want socialism for Panama.”

4. By virtue of this visit Torrijos undercut domestic-opposition moves from his left. By disassociating himself from socialism he reassured his opponents on the right. By both, he has relieved pressures that could have disturbed the negotiations. (Which, by the way, are going well. Bunker feels that good progress was made here in December. Another round will be held in Panama in February. Brown, Clements and Bunker are in touch and, I gather, pretty much in tune.)

5. The Cuba visit received minimal press coverage in this country.

6. The Congress was not, of course, in session. Presumably treaty opponents, and possibly Governor Reagan, will exploit Torrijos’ “Cuba connection”.

7. Javits talked with Torrijos in Panama the day before he left for Cuba and warned against speaking rashly while there.2 Bunker, Jorden and Bell had given the same message earlier to the General and his confidants.

8. Another interesting development: Torrijos has just settled a serious squabble with United Brands on equitable terms instead of moving toward expropriation. Also he has just signed with Texas Gulf for [Page 297] a huge copper exploitation.3 These show he is more of a pragmatist than a “revolutionary” . . . that he is deeply development-oriented. . . and that he is binding the economy tighter to the United States while trying to undo the “sovereignty” binds.

Sisco
  1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, Country/Subject Files—Special Collections—Luigi Einaudi’s Country Files, Lot 91D371, Box 6, Panama: Background to Treaty. Secret; Immediate; Exdis. Secretary Kissinger was in Copenhagen to meet with Danish Prime Minister Jorgensen.↩
  2. In telegram 200 from Panama City, January 12, the Embassy reported that Javits warned Torrijos that “extravagant statements or giving the impression that Panama was becoming a Cuban ally would have the most adverse reactions in the U.S.” (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D760011–0245)↩
  3. Telegram 247 from Panama City, January 16, reported that the Government of Panama and United Brands had reached an agreement on January 8. Telegram 101 from Panama City, January 7, reported the joint announcement by Texas Gulf and the Cerro Colorado Mining Development Corporation of an agreement for exploitation of the Cerro Colorado copper deposit. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D760014–0815 and D760005–1129)↩