Millions for Defense

Ambassador Frank Hines represented the U.S. last week in signing an agreement giving the U.S. 14 defense bases on Panamanian territory. But the Panamanian Government had to work fast to have a signer (Acting Foreign Minister Francisco A. Filos) on hand for the ceremony. Rather than put his name to the agreement, Foreign Minister Ricardo J. Alfaro had resigned.

Despite the $43,000 the U.S. would pay in annual rental, many another Panamanian felt as Alfaro did. When students at the National University and High School heard of the signing, they went on a paro doloroso (strike of sorrow). Next day, primed by pep talks from anti-Yankee professors, they were out for trouble. Armed with sticks, stones and one red flag, they headed for Panama City's Plaza Santa Ana to organize a "popular protest," and hoped to get the National Assembly to hold up the agreement. Halfway down the Avenida Central, police met them with tear gas and sabers. For a moment the students gave as good as they got. Then they fell back. Score: 30 hurt (including 17 policemen).

Only the students and their professors (five of whom were arrested as leaders) put up organized resistance. Even wily, oldtime Yanqui-Baiter Arnulfo Arias, now campaigning for President (TIME, Dec. 8), had plumped for the deal on grounds that the 600 miles of good roads the U.S. was building to link the bases were just what Panama's underdeveloped interior needed. Besides, President Enrique Adolfo Jimenez had the votes to guarantee National Assembly approval for the agreement.

For its part, the U.S. was not dissatisfied. Of the 134 defense sites occupied temporarily during the war, almost all had been restored. The remaining 14--fighter strips and radar outposts--would give the Panama Canal adequate defense in an air age. One of the fields, Rio Hato, would be built into a $25,000,000 bomber base, under a ten-year lease that could be renewed for a further ten years. Conceivably, with Panama defenses stabilized, the U.S. might now proceed to build a sea-level canal--if Congress had a billion dollars to spare.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.