The Torrijos–Carter Treaties () are two
treaties signed by the United States and
Panama
Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
in Washington, D.C., on September 7, 1977, which superseded the
Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903. The treaties guaranteed that Panama would gain control of the
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...
after 1999, ending the control of the canal that the U.S. had exercised since 1903. The treaties are named after the two signatories, U.S. President
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
and the Commander of
Panama's National Guard, General
Omar Torrijos.
This first treaty is officially titled The Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal () and is commonly known as the "Neutrality Treaty". Under this treaty, the U.S. retained the permanent right to defend the canal from any threat that might interfere with its continued neutral service to ships of all nations. The second treaty is titled The Panama Canal Treaty (''Tratado del Canal de Panamá''), and provided that as from 12:00 on December 31, 1999, Panama would assume full control of canal operations and become primarily responsible for its defense.
History
Panamanian efforts to renegotiate the original
Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty had been ongoing almost since it was first signed in November 1903, a few weeks after Panama obtained its independence from
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
. However, activity to renegotiate or abrogate the treaty increased considerably after the
Suez Crisis, and events in 1964 precipitated a complete breakdown in relations between the U.S. and Panama. On January 9 of that year, Panamanian students entered the canal zone to fly the Panamanian flag next to the American flag, per a 1963 agreement to defuse tension between the two countries. Panamanians watching the event began rioting after the students raising the Panamanian flag were jeered and harassed by American school officials, students, and their parents. During the scuffle, somehow the Panamanian flag was torn. Widespread rioting ensued, during which over 20 Panamanians were killed and about 500 were injured. Most of the casualties were caused by fire from U.S. troops, who had been called in to protect Canal Zone property, including private residences of Canal Zone employees. January 9 is a National Holiday in Panama, known as
Martyrs' Day.
The next day, January 10, Panama broke off diplomatic relations with the United States and on January 19,
President of Panama Roberto Chiari declared that Panama would not re-establish diplomatic ties with the United States until the U.S. agreed to begin negotiations on a new treaty. The first steps in that direction were taken shortly thereafter on April 3, 1964, when both countries agreed to an immediate resumption of diplomatic relations and the United States agreed to adopt procedures for the "elimination of the causes of conflict between the two countries". A few weeks later,
Robert B. Anderson, President
Lyndon Johnson's special representative, flew to Panama to pave the way for future talks. Negotiations over the next years resulted in a treaty in 1967, but it failed to be ratified in Panama.
After the failure of those treaties, Panama experienced a change in government following a
1968 military coup. The new government was consolidated under Omar Torrijos, who decided to definitively reject the 1967 treaty. In response to a lack of progress of negotiations with the
Nixon administration, the Torrijos government succeeded in holding a March 1973
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
session in Panama City, where it attracted considerable international support for its cause. The diplomatic debacle also attracted
Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...
's attention and helped produce momentum for the 1974 Tack-Kissinger agreement, which would provide the crucial framework for negotiations moving forward. "It was this work, beginning in late 1972, that made Panama the visible issue that
Carter boldly hoped to solve as a watershed for a new style of foreign policy and an era of improved relations with Latin America."
The
Carter administration made the canal a high priority, starting during the transition. The issue had been highlighted by a
blue-ribbon commission headed by Ambassador
Sol Linowitz. Several individuals associated with that commission would play major roles in the Carter administration's Latin America policy, including Linowitz himself and NSC Senior Director
Robert A. Pastor. Negotiations were resumed on February 15, 1977, and were completed by August 10 of that year. On the American side the negotiators were
Ellsworth Bunker and Sol Linowitz; the Panamanian side of the negotiations was headed by
Rómulo Escobar Bethancourt. Senator
Dennis DeConcini sponsored a critical amendment to the Panama Canal Treaty that allowed the Senate to come to a consensus on giving control of the Canal to Panama. A few days before final agreement on the treaties was reached, President Carter had sent a telegram to all members of Congress informing them of the status of the negotiations and asking them to withhold judgment on the treaty until they had an opportunity to carefully study it. Senator
Strom Thurmond responded to Carter's appeal by stating in a speech later that day, "The canal is ours, we bought and we paid for it and we should keep it."
Ratification
Both treaties were subsequently ratified in Panama with 67.4% of the vote in
a referendum held on October 23, 1977. To allow for popular discussion of the treaties and in response to claims made by opponents of the treaty in the U.S. that Panama was incapable of democratically ratifying them, restrictions on the press and on political parties were lifted several weeks prior to the vote. On the day of the vote, 96% of Panama's eligible voters went to the polls, the highest voter turnout in Panama up to that time. The neutrality treaty was of major concern among voters, particularly on the political left, and was one reason why the treaties failed to obtain even greater popular support.
The
United States Senate
The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
advised and consented to ratification of the first treaty on March 16, 1978, and to the second treaty on April 18 by identical 68 to 32 margins. On both votes, 52 Democrats and 16 Republicans voted in favor of advising and consenting to ratification, while 10 Democrats and 22 Republicans voted against.
Criticism
The treaties drew vehement controversy in the United States, particularly among conservatives led by
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
, Strom Thurmond and
Jesse Helms, who regarded them as the surrender of a strategic American asset to what they characterized as a hostile government. The attack was mobilized by numerous groups, especially the
American Conservative Union, the
Conservative Caucus, the
Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress,
Citizens for the Republic, the
American Security Council Foundation, the
Young Republicans, the
National Conservative Political Action Committee, the Council for National Defense,
Young Americans for Freedom, the Council for Inter-American Security, and the Campus Republican Action Organization.
In the years preceding (and following) the final transfer of canal assets there were efforts to declare the Carter–Torrijos treaties null and void, e.g. House Joint Resolution 77 (HJR 77) introduced by
Helen Chenoweth-Hage. Support of HJR 77 was part of the 2000 platform of the
Texas Republican Party but no longer appeared in the 2004 platform.
In December 2024, U.S. President-elect
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
criticized the
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...
passage rates being charged by Panama as being too expensive, warned against potential Chinese control of or influence over the canal, and raised the possibility of a US demand for the full and immediate return of control over the canal to the United States. Panama’s President
José Raúl Mulino immediately rejected each point of this criticism and preemptively refused to return the canal. In January 2025, Rep.
Dusty Johnson announced his intentions to introduce a bill that would authorize the U.S. President to "initiate and conduct negotiations... to reacquire the Panama Canal."
Support
Support for the treaties came from a variety of interests, including the
Joint Chiefs of Staff and members of Congress, such as
Ernest Hollings,
Hubert Humphrey, and most importantly
Howard Baker and
Robert Byrd. Carter's
National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski attributed much of the political support for the treaty to his assuring attendees at a meeting including Byrd, that the United States would invoke the treaty to overthrow any Panamanian government that shut down the canal.
Other supporters included Admiral
Elmo Zumwalt and General
Maxwell Taylor;
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...
, who was friends with Omar Torrijos,
AFL-CIO president
George Meany, statesmen
Averell Harriman,
Dean Rusk,
George Ball,
Henry Cabot Lodge, and
John Sherman Cooper, and former first lady
Lady Bird Johnson.
More moderate conservatives, including former President
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...
and Henry Kissinger, both made public statements in support of the treaty. Organized efforts to promote the treaties came from the Committee of Americans for the Canal Treaties and New Directions.
Many world leaders also came out in support of the treaties, including positive statements from Barbados Prime Minister
Tom Adams, Bolivian President
Hugo Banzer, Dominican President
Joaquín Balaguer, Guatemalan President
Kjell Laugerud, Guyanese Prime Minister
Forbes Burnham, Nicaraguan President
Anastasio Somoza, Peruvian President
Francisco Morales Bermúdez, Chilean President
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...
, Costa Rican President
Daniel Oduber, and Venezuelan President
Carlos Andrés Pérez.
Implementation

The treaty laid out a timetable for transfer of the canal, leading to a complete handover of all lands and buildings in the canal area to Panama. The most immediate consequence of this treaty was that the
Canal Zone, as an entity, ceased to exist on October 1, 1979. The final phase of the treaty was completed on December 31, 1999. On this date, the United States relinquished control of the Panama Canal and all areas in what had been the Panama Canal Zone.
As a result of the treaties, by the year 2000 nearly , including some 7,000 buildings, such as military facilities, warehouses, schools, and private residences, were transferred to Panama. In 1993, the Panamanian government created a temporary agency (''Autoridad de la Región Interoceánica'' or "Interoceanic Region Authority", commonly referred to as ARI) to administer and maintain the reverted properties.
On the day the treaty took effect, most of the land within the former Canal Zone transferred to Panama. However, the treaty set aside many Canal Zone areas and facilities for transfer during the following 20 years. The treaty specifically categorized areas and facilities by name as "Military Areas of Coordination", "Defense Sites" and "Areas Subject to Separate Bilateral Agreement". These were to be transferred by the U.S. to Panama during certain time windows or simply by the end of the 243-month treaty period.
On October 1, 1979, among the many such parcels so designated in the treaty, 34 emerged as true enclaves (surrounded entirely by land solely under Panamanian jurisdiction). In later years as other areas were turned over to Panama, eight more true enclaves emerged. Of these 42 true enclaves, 14 were related to military logistics, seven were military communications sites, five
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...
facilities, five military housing enclaves, three military base areas, two military research facilities, four secondary school parcels, one elementary school, and one hospital. At least 13 other parcels each were encircled not only by land under the absolute jurisdiction of Panama, but also by an "Area of Civil Coordination" (housing) that was subject to elements of both U.S. and Panamanian public law under the treaty.
In addition, the treaty designated numerous areas and individual facilities as "Canal Operating Areas" for joint U.S.–Panama ongoing operations by a commission. On the effective date of the treaty, many of these, including
Madden Dam, became newly surrounded by the territory of Panama. Just after noon local time on 31 December 1999, all former Canal Zone parcels of all types had come under the exclusive jurisdiction of Panama.
In literature
Graham Greene attended the signing with
Gabriel García Márquez. Greene wrote about his experience in his book ''
Getting to Know the General: The Story of an Involvement''.
References
Further reading
*
*
*
* J. Michael Hogan, ''The Panama Canal in American Politics: Domestic Advocacy and the Evolution of Policy'', Southern Illinois University Press, 1986
* Thomas Hollihan, "The Public Controversy Over the Panama Canal Treaties: An Analysis of American Foreign Policy Rhetoric," ''Western Journal of Speech Communication'', Fall 1986, p. 371+
* George D. Moffett III, ''The Limits of Victory: The Ratification of the Panama Canal Treaties'', Cornell University Press, 1985.
* M. Noriega and P. Eisner. ''America's Prisoner — The Memoirs of Manuel Noriega'', Random House, 1997.
* David Skidmore, "Foreign Policy Interest Groups and Presidential Power: Jimmy Carter and the Battle over Ratification of the Panama Canal Treaties," in Herbert D. Rosenbaum and Alexej Ugrinsky, eds. ''Jimmy Carter: Foreign Policy and Post-Presidential Years'' Greenwood Press. 1994. pp 297–32
online* Craig Allen Smith, "Leadership, Orientation and Rhetorical Vision: Jimmy Carter, the 'New Right,' and the Panama Canal," ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'', Spring 1986, p. 323+
* Gaddis Smith, ''Morality Reason, and Power: American Diplomacy in the Carter Years'' (1986), pp. 111–15.
* Robert A. Strong, "Jimmy Carter and the Panama Canal Treaties." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' (1991), 21.2: 269–286. .
*
Adam Clymer, ''Drawing the Line at the Big Ditch: The Panama Canal Treaties and the Rise of the Right'', University Press of Kansas, 2008.
* Noel Maurer and Carlos Yu, ''The Big Ditch: How America Took, Built, Ran, and Ultimately Gave Away the Panama Canal'', Princeton University Press, 2011.
* Mary C. Swilling
"The Business of the Canal: The Economics and Politics of the Carter Administration's Panama Canal Zone Initiative, 1978" ''Essays in Economic & Business History'' (2012) 22:275-89.
* Jonathan C. Brown, ''The Weak and the Powerful: Omar Torrijos, Panama, and the Non-Aligned Movement in the World'', University of Pittsburgh Press, 2024.
Newspapers
* ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', April 4, 1964. "U.S. and Panama Sign Agreement to Restore Ties", Tad Szulc.
* ''The New York Times'', April 20, 1964. "Andersen Goes to Panama as President's Special Envoy".
* ''The New York Times'', February 8, 1974.
U.S. Agrees to Yield Sovereignty of Canal to Panama, David Binder.
* ''The New York Times'', August 9, 1977,
, Graham Hovey.
* ''The New York Times'', August 11, 1977,
, Graham Hovey.
* ''The New York Times'', April 20, 1978,
.
External links
The Neutrality Treaty
The Neutrality Treaty
The Panama Canal Treaty
House Resolution 77ARI homepageUniversity of Florida Digital Collections: Panama and the Canal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torrijos-Carter Treaties
Articles containing video clips
Carter administration controversies
Eponymous treaties
1977 in Panama
History of the Panama Canal Zone
Panama Canal Zone
Panama–United States relations
Presidency of Jimmy Carter
September 1977 in the United States
Treaties concluded in 1977
Treaties entered into force in 1978
Treaties of Panama
Treaties of the United States