64. Memorandum From the Executive Secretary of the Panama Canal Zone (Conley) to the Governor of the Panama Canal Zone (Parker)1
PCC representation in Washington meetings with State and the Panamanians on lands and waters use.2
1. Jerry Welch and I would like to talk with you before you acquiesce in sending a PCC representative to Washington for the meeting referred to in the last paragraph of attached paper.3
2. The U.S. negotiators want to erode our position. We feel that participation in the Washington meeting would be a no-win, high risk venture of having to make item-by-item justifications with State and the Panamanians ganging up on our man, who would be standing alone without any real support from DOD.
[Page 177]3. We need first to somehow get our negotiators to support our position. We thought we had already educated the chief architect of the Panamanian lands position, Edwin Fabrega. If more education of Panamanians is required, it best should be given by us here on our home ground with us controlling the process and setting the pace.
- Source: National Archives, RG 185, Subject Files of the 1979 Panama Canal Treaty Planning Group, Box 9, Land, Water, Air Space Use I, 10/11/74–7/26/75. Confidential. Sent through the Lieutenant Governor. ↩
- The negotiating teams agreed to continue technical negotiations on the SOFA and land use in Washington beginning on January 28. (Telegram 465 from Panama City, January 24; National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D750027–0962)↩
- Memorandum for the Record, dated January 28, is attached but not printed. The paper describes a meeting between Koren and Bunker which discussed strategy and potential concessions regarding the Panama Canal. A February 3 date had been set for the Washington meeting. No record of this meeting has been found.↩
- Printed from a copy with this typed signature.↩