Panama and the Full Implementation of the Canal Treaties

Panama is a Bolivarian, Caribbean, Centroamerican and consciously Latin-American nation. It is also a north to south bridge in the American Continent, a link between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. With the Canal Treaties, Panama recovered its territorial integrity and the dominion over its main natural resource: the strategic position that allows the country to make the interoceanic transit possible. The reduction of the foreign forces that stay in Panama is progressing according to the provision established in the Treaties. It is a good opportunity for Panama to transform military bases into industrial and commercial bases, in order to build a maritime-port center of world importance, as well as into superior teaching and research institutes; in short, a space of shared opportunities.

Lecture given at the Matías Romero Institute for Diplomatic Studies, on the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of relations between Mexico and Panama.