4. Memorandum From William J. Jorden of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1
SUBJECT
- Panama Feedback
You may be interested in information we have been receiving since my return from Panama which indicates that Torrijos’ reaction to my visit and to my discussions with him has been very positive. He apparently feels that a new chapter has been opened in US-Panamanian relations and his reported statements and actions over the past two weeks tend to reflect his positive mood.
Here are some of the highlights of reports [less than 1 line not declassified]:
—Torrijos believes that his talks with me serve as a departure point for a new line of action on the canal treaty negotiations and he now thinks the negotiations will be renewed.
—He has instructed Panamanian journalists not to publish any articles which are provocative or anti-United States before the UNSC meeting. Any articles about which there is any doubt should first be cleared with the government.
—He has directed the National Guard and the Panama police to insure that there are no attempts to manufacture adverse propaganda against canal zone residents and no contrived incidents designed to embarrass the United States.
—He has commented in private that he was very pleased by the visit of “the representative of Dr. Kissinger” which he believes “has advanced relations between Panama and the US by sixty years”.
—While he thinks that all Canal Zone facilities and installations could be turned over to Panama in five years, he is now inclined to consider favorably the acceptance of a ten-year schedule, “if he and Henry Kissinger were allowed to work out the basic framework of a new canal treaty”.
—He is also reported to have expressed his confidence that many of the problems between Panama and the US could be resolved if [Page 11] direct communications could be maintained between himself and the White House.
—He has instructed his Foreign Minister to be extremely diplomatic in his dealings with the US and to avoid antagonizing the United States whenever possible.
—He has told associates that his speech at the opening session of the Security Council must be designed to set a “moderate tone for the entire UNSC meeting”. While he must present Panama’s position regarding the Canal issue, he wants to avoid establishing the framework for a series of attacks against the US by delegates of other countries attending the UNSC meeting.
—He is also reported to have personally told a group of journalists that it is not in the best interest of Panama to antagonize the US without reason at this time.
—Captain Villa has been released and is now in Panama following a short trip to Havana last week by Torrijos’ personal emissary, Lt. Col. Noriega.
—Indications from our Embassy in Panama and from a Latin American diplomat at the United Nations are that Panama has moderated its position on the resolution to be presented to the Security Council concerning the US-Panama “conflict”.
—The leading communist labor leader in Panama is reliably reported to have told labor leaders on February 25 that there will be no demonstrations during the UNSC meeting.
—The Panamanian Government has agreed to the Embassy suggestion that the invitation to the members of the UNSC to visit the Canal installations be issued jointly by Panama and the US.
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 791, Country Files, Latin America, Panama, Vol. 3, January 1972–August 1974. Secret; Sensitive. Sent for information. Kissinger wrote on the first page of the memorandum, “Good work Bill,” and initialed.↩