Historic Point in U.S.-Latin Ties

This week the United States begins the formal process of handing over control of the 550-square-mile Panama Canal Zone to the Panamanian government. The historic turnover is being widely celebrated in Latin American countries, which historically viewed the waterway as a colonial outpost despite the trade it developed in the Central American isthmus during almost a century under U.S. authority.

The event has raised barely a ripple in the United States, which will continue to benefit from trade through the waterway. What thunder there is comes from the far right, which argues that the hand-over will symbolize weakness and diminish U.S. standing in Central and South America.

In fact, the Canal Zone never belonged to the United States. Washington has controlled the canal and its ancillary properties under a treaty signed with Panama in 1903. But the U.S. never purchased the real estate, and that was the situation 22 years ago when the government under President Jimmy Carter ceded control of the land back to Panama.

Panamanian officials and workers have operated the canal for decades. The American presence was largely military, and that significance has diminished in recent years because the canal is too narrow to handle large U.S. Navy vessels and oil supertankers.

Return of the Canal Zone marks the end of an era. If handled positively and ungrudgingly, the change can signify the beginning of a new partnership between the United States and Latin America, though the relationship probably always will invite controversy. Panama currently is unhappy over Washington’s decision Friday not to send Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, much less President Clinton, to the Tuesday ceremony.

Some U.S. politicians have raised critical questions about Chinese influence in Panama as the American image fades. They point in particular to a port management contract that Panamanian authorities recently awarded to a Hong Kong-based shipping company, Hutchinson-Whampoa Ltd. Republican leaders in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (Miss.), say its presence could lead to Chinese military control over the waterway. But Panama does not even have diplomatic relations with Beijing, and it recognizes Taipei as the legitimate seat of China’s government.

The American presence will still be felt. For instance, an American company, Kansas City Southern, will manage a railroad line that runs the length of the canal.

Panamanians have run the canal for the past 10 years, and 93% of the 9,000 canal employees are locals, including the top administrators. Even though the final transition on Dec. 31 is unlikely to cause a blip in operations, a historic period will have passed--a change that should be good for the Americas.