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opinionAlso in this section:
Remarks to
the CADE 2005 by Martín Torrijos I am glad that the Panamanian Business Executives Association has decided to dedicate its annual conference to the subject of the canal. Also, that it is doing what ought to be done: studying the past that brought us to this point and analyzing our future prospects about the interoceanic waterway. Since Panama accepted that its midsection would be opened to serve international maritime commerce and the military requirements of the epoch, the canal has become, more than a marvel of engineering, into an architecture of problems. Consciousness about a territory segregated from our sovereignty and the foreign military presence forged a special sensitivity and a feeling that its recovery sealed our identity as a country. The canal was, at the same time, a source of wealth and source of conflicts. After nearly three-quarters of a century of negotiations, Panama found a formula to eliminate the conflicts and take advantage of the riches. "Perpetuity" lasted less than 100 years, and the scantiness of the payments was transformed into important assets of the nation. It is hard to find, in the history of the peoples of the world, a country like Panama that's able to show such a surprising credential of having arrived at a negotiated settlement to its conflicts. Throughout our history, from the Spanish Conquest to the 20th Century, in the face of the possibility of shedding our blood in the terrible fratricidal conflicts, as has occurred and occurs in other countries, we Panamanians have always opted for dialogue and negotiation. The canal of conflicts is now a unifying factor among Panamanians. Now it's no longer a source of permanent disputes between Panama and the United States, but an example of what understanding and cooperation between two nations can accomplish. The canal is capable of bringing us together, peacefully and democratically, with equity and without exclusions, to make it the axle of our future prosperity. We will only accomplish this by making the maritime route the axle of a strategy that permits us to lay the bases for a wholesome, balances and sustainable development of the country. History has been generous to us Panamanians. it has always given us opportunities to remake the old twisting trails, which the poet Ricardo Miró described as the fatherland. After the invasion of our country, we could have as a nation been thrown into permanent confrontations and recriminations. We could have been consumed in interminable hatreds and struggles. We could have cast aside the future that dialogue would open for us. But we didn't do that. On the contrary, we opted for reconciliation. We were capable of putting our society back together, we were capable of making an agreement to go on living in a democracy, and we were capable of agreeing about the norms by which the canal would be run. We must never get tired or bored of proclaiming with pride that we have efficiently run the canal. In the end it's the success of all the nation and all its generations. But this must not excuse us from examining the deficiencies or the errors that we could commit, if we want that pride to be true for all. For my part, and for a long time, I have worried about the fact that many Panamanians still perceive the canal as something distant and apart, as a prosperous business whose benefits never get to the majority. I know that the figures speak for themselves, and only their mention would be enough to dissipate this perception. Until 1979, the year when the Torrijos-Carter Treaties went into effect, Panama had received $74 million. $74 million in 67 years. In the 20 years that followed, those of the joint Panamanian-American administration, Panama received $1.88 billion. The figures are impressive: $74 million in 67 years, $1.88 billion in 20 years. That's not all. In only five years of Panamanian administration, the public coffers have received $1.332 billion from the canal's operation --- more than the Fiduciary Fund. However, many continue to ask, Where is the money from the canal? The technical answer, of course, is that, as it has been put into the general fund, it's part of the budget and the ongoing expenses of the government. But I think that neither these figures nor this explanation are sufficient, and that we must, for the sake of a better perception of the canal's importance, tie a fixed part of its income to specific programs. Therefore the government will assign, from the income derived from the canal, 10 cents for every ton that transits the canal to a special fund for education and to combat poverty. Thus, each time our youngsters see a ship transit, they will know that part of the toll that has been paid is destined to the poorest areas of the country. My friends: Panama has been through extraordinary historic events. Now, with the canal in our hands, and as owners of our own destiny, it's up to us to reach an agreement to get out of poverty and to set our country on a course toward new horizons. Within this aspiration to realize our potentials, to turn into a competitive country, into a transportation center, into a tourist destination, into a communications center, the canal is a keystone. We're going to prepare ourselves for the debate that will bring us to decide if we are going to widen it and how we're going to do it. This event prepared for CADE 2005, having the Panama Canal as the reason for its reflections, is extremely valuable because it's an agenda that's dedicated to the immediate future of the country. It's an agenda that encompasses the experiences that have brought us to be what we are today and that extends to what we can be. I salute you and I ask you to have the citizenry participate in these debates, to effectively publicize, as widely as possible, what is debated or proposed here so that all of us Panamanians can have the same quantity and quality of information. The studies by the Panama Canal Authority, of course, have yet to be finished. When these are done, the executive branch will give them the widest possible publicity so that Panamanians can vote their conscience about the future of the interoceanic waterway. In this national debate, there can't be exclusions. It can't be circumscribed among academic circles or professional associations. When it comes to the canal all operations count, because this work is rooted in the soul of this nation. I want to reiterate this promise: the students and the professionals, the workers and the impresarios, the retirees and the residents of the canal watershed, will also be protagonists in this debate and thus in our future. At the end of the road, we must all conclude that the future of the Panama Canal is the responsibility of each and every Panamanian.
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