Jimmy Carter and General Omar Torrijos shake hands after signing the Panama Canal Treaty in the Pan American Union Building Formerly Top Secret Records Shed Light on True History of Canal Negotiations Kissinger Signed “Declaration of Principles” for New Treaty; Oversaw Diplomatic Advances on Ceding Control of Canal Zone in mid 1970s Kissinger Warning: “This is no issue to face the world on. It looks like pure colonialism.” For more information, contact:202-994-7000 or peter.kornbluh@gmail.com Anderson served as special ambassador to Panama to negotiate a Canal Zone treaty from April 1964 to June 1973 served as a lead negotiator on the Panama Canal accords during the Ford and Carter administrations Jimmy Carter appointed Sol Linowitz to work with Ambassador Bunker to finalize the Panama Canal treaty negotiations control of the Panama Canal “looks like pure colonialism,” Henry Kissinger advised President Gerald Ford during a National Security Council meeting in May 1975 failure to conclude a treaty is going to get us into a cause celebre according to a declassified memorandum of conversation posted today by the National Security Archive The lead negotiator for a new Canal Zone treaty reinforced that point: “I have no doubt that failure in these negotiations would entail unacceptable risks,” Bunker told the president “including negative effects beyond Panama which would disrupt our relations with Latin America and hamper the operation of the waterway.” The NSC ”memcon” is featured in a new Electronic Briefing Book published today by the National Security Archive as confrontation over the Panama Canal escalates into a central U.S Secretary of State Marco Rubio held meetings in Panama to press the Trump administration’s claims that the presence of a Chinese company in the Canal Zone violates the neutrality clause of the 1977 Treaty “Secretary Rubio made clear that this status quo is unacceptable and that absent immediate changes it would require the United States to take measures necessary to protect its rights under the treaty,” the State Department said in a threatening summary of the meeting and we’re taking it back”—an ominous statement that prompted Panama to file a complaint to the United Nations that the U.S is in violation of the UN Charter prohibiting “the threat or use of force” against the territorial integrity of member nations But during Secretary Rubio’s visit to Panama Trump reiterated that threat: “We’re going to take it back or something very powerful is going to happen.” The documents posted today include CIA reports telephone transcripts and audio tapes dating back to the Kennedy era Although the current Canal accords were signed by President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader General Omar Torrijos in September 1977 negotiations for a new treaty ceding sovereignty of the Canal Zone back to Panama spanned a period of 13 years—from 1964 to 1977—during the Johnson Almost a half century after complex and protracted bilateral diplomatic efforts finally removed the Canal Zone as a contentious and internationally repudiated symbol of U.S these fascinating archival records provide a contextual factual overview to understand and appreciate the historical foundations of the foreign policy crisis that is escalating today over Panama The various phases of bilateral talks evolved during different eras and with a variety of approaches on both the U.S the documents provide several key takeaways that can inform the increasingly misleading and aggressive political discourse over Panama **The Canal Treaty negotiations were bipartisan: Diplomatic negotiations to withdraw U.S control of the Canal Zone and recognize Panama’s sovereignty over the waterway were conducted under two Democratic administrations—Johnson and Carter—and two Republican administrations—Nixon and Ford Although the Carter administration receives due historical credit in the media for negotiating and signing the current Panama Canal accords that historic agreement evolved from talks initiated under the Johnson Administration in early 1964 after anti-American protests in the Zone and the U.S response cost the lives of 22 Panamanian students and four U.S Johnson appointed the first “special ambassador,” Robert M to negotiate a new treaty to replace the imperial 1903 agreement giving the U.S economic and administrative control over the Canal territories Anderson negotiated a package of three treaties governing the administration and defense of the Canal Zone; for political reasons the accords were never signed or ratified in either Washington or Panama But Anderson continued as chief negotiator during the Nixon administration until June 1973 During Henry Kissinger’s tenure as Secretary of State Kissinger traveled to Panama for a signing ceremony of a “Declaration of Principles” that established an eight-point framework for negotiations to cede control of the Zone to Panama Given the contentious domestic politics surrounding U.S the Ford administration planned to finalize and sign an accord after the November 1976 presidential election on the assumption that Ford would win the new Carter administration quickly affirmed that it would finalize negotiations to replace the 1903 treaty with a two-treaty package—one on administrative control and one on the future defense of the canal President Carter also committed himself to a major public relations campaign to educate U.S public opinion on how the new treaties would advance U.S interests and lobby swing senators from both parties to vote to ratify the two-treaty agreement policy motivations were to secure sustainable the waterway: After President Carter died at age 100 President Trump accused him of “giving [the Canal] away.” But the documents show that Carter strategic and economic interests in redefining an enduring and unstable symbol of an imperious U.S presence in Central America into a zone of mutual and harmonious collaboration as a declassified memorandum of conversation between President Kennedy and Panama’s President Roberto Chiari reveals of “the intensity of the feeling of the present Panamanian generation with regard to the 1903 treaty” and demanded new accords that respected Panama’s sovereignty over the Canal Zone Those warnings became reality when violent convincing President Johnson that a new treaty was needed to stabilize the geostrategic and economically imperative waterway In three different national security directives President Nixon instructed his negotiators to continue treaty negotiations at one point calling for a new draft treaty by the end of 1971 When President Ford faced hostile domestic opposition to a treaty and division among his own national security team top aides led by Henry Kissinger advised him on the regional and international repercussions of terminating the Canal Zone negotiations: “There will be an uproar in Panama It will become an armed camp and will spread rapidly to the Western Hemisphere It will become an OAS issue around which they will all unite Then it will spread into the international organizations,” Kissinger told him we want a treaty,” Ford told his advisors during a July 1975 NSC meeting “We don’t want a blow-up here in the United States or down there either We want the situation under control here and certainly not a renewal of the fighting from 1964 there where people were killed and we had a hell of a mess.” **Domestic politics were a critical consideration and obstacle: Changing public opinion about the Canal and securing a two thirds vote in the Senate to ratify a new treaty with Panama were ever-present considerations for U.S President Kennedy flat-out rejected the entreaties of Panama’s president to negotiate a new treaty on political grounds because according to the summary of their conversation “he could not see the end of the road in sitting down to rewrite the treaty nor how he could demonstrate to two-thirds of the Senate that such a course had advanced the United States interest.” President Ford was advised that “a new treaty could constitute a striking foreign-policy achievement for the Administration It will not be easy to move a treaty through the Senate But the real problem derives more from ignorance than antipathy.” With Ronald Reagan challenging Ford in the 1976 primaries with the mantra “When it comes to the Panama Canal we built it; we paid for it; and…we are going to keep it,” discussions on treaty negotiations during the Ford administration repeatedly addressed how to sustain the pretense of talks while not actually finalizing an agreement until after the November 1976 election The very first policy review meeting on Panama during the Carter administration determined that the President should start the campaign to inform public opinion by including Panama in his fireside chats and that he should authorize “a National Citizens Committee on the Panama Canal…to stimulate a national educational campaign.” The Carter administration did mount a major and ultimately successful public relations effort to win hearts and minds (and votes) that included recruiting Hollywood star John Wayne to specifically rebut Ronald Reagan for spreading falsehoods and “misinforming people” about the treaty proposals **Diplomacy Produces Positive Results: In his first conversation with the President of Panama after the January 9 security personnel shot and killed some 20 Panamanians President Johnson portrayed himself as “cold and hard and tough as hell.” But by April when he appointed a special ambassador to engage in treaty negotiations Johnson had adopted a proactive diplomatic attitude which helped contain the dangerous and explosive threat of unrest targeting the Canal Zone for the duration of his presidency Mitigating unrest through the promise of diplomatic negotiations for a new treaty was also a strategy of the Nixon/Ford administrations Carter had far more empathy for Panama’s historical grievances than his predecessors—“It is obvious we cheated the Panamanians out of their canal,” he wrote in his diary—but according to Kai Bird’s biography Carter was influenced by intelligence briefings of how vulnerable the Zone was to political unrest and that 100,000 U.S diplomacy offered far more promise than the use of force quickly negotiated a two-treaty solution—one on jurisdiction and administration and the other securing the U.S rights to defend the Canal against threats to its neutrality At a White House meeting with General Torrijos one day before the September 7 Carter told him that “the treaty opened the way to a new era of mutual respect equality and friendship between our peoples.” For almost half a century since the signing of those historic accords that “new era” has more or less endured; notwithstanding the U.S invasion of Panama in 1989 to seize General Manuel Noriega the Canal Zone has functioned to the advantage of the U.S. Panama and the international community—until now threatens a return to an era of gunboat diplomacy in Panama,” notes Archive analyst Peter Kornbluh “the historical record of the Canal Zone negotiations reflects the pragmatic promise of actual diplomacy to advance U.S Panamanian President Roberto Chiari meets with President Kennedy at the White House regarding the status of the Canal Zone Chiari presents the case for renegotiating the 1903 Canal treaty—arguments he has previously shared with Kennedy in a September 8 letter—suggesting that the original agreement has led to “misunderstandings” for many years Chiari “asked in the name of Panama that the treaties be revised and not considered sacred just because they were signed 58 years ago.” According to this summary of their White House meeting Kennedy’s response is diplomatic but negative Kennedy “could not see the end of the road in sitting down to rewrite the treaty nor how he could demonstrate to two-thirds of the Senate that such a course had advanced the United States interest He suggested that since sovereignty is the principal issue and we have recognized Panama as sovereign that we attempt within this framework to work out operation of the Canal along with mitigation of frictions.” The meeting summary notes that Chiari became “petulant and frustrated” with the conversation; his foreign minister took over the presentation of Panama’s position Solis “repeated that President Chiari cannot go back to Panama without agreement to discuss in a negotiation committee all the claims Panama may present; otherwise he will face a political crisis President Kennedy replied that he was not in a position to give any commitment that the United States could at this time agree to officials of “the intensity of the feeling of the present Panamanian generation with regard to the 1903 treaty.” The CIA Daily Brief reports on January 9th riots that have led to death and destruction in the Canal Zone The report notes that the violence broke out over “the issue of flying the Panamanian flag in the Zone…with the Panamanians insisting on this dual display.” The anti-American sentiment generated by the riots and the shooting of Panamanians by U.S deaths and injuries of dozens of Panamanians mark a turning point in the history of U.S President Roberto Chiari responds by cutting diplomatic relations with Washington and demanding negotiations for a new Canal treaty as a quid pro quo for restoration of bilateral ties Top Johnson administration officials convene to address the first foreign policy crisis of Johnson’s presidency CIA Director John McCone provides an initial briefing on the violent riots and the prospect of their continuation Officials agree on a series of crisis management steps including a call from Johnson to the president of Panama and the immediate launch of a fact-finding mission to Panama led by Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America Thomas Mann The Miller Center at the University of Virginia violent riots in the Canal Zone and the heavy-handed U.S personnel and 20 Panamanians dead and more than 200 injured and led to Panama breaking diplomatic relations with the United States President Johnson calls Senator Richard Russell to brief him on a phone conversation he has just had with President Chiari of Panama Chiari told Johnson about the June 1962 meeting with Kennedy complaining that “not a thing has been done” since then to address Panama’s demands for a new treaty Johnson reports to Russell that he shut down Chiari’s efforts to press for treaty negotiations “I told him that we couldn’t get into that,” Johnson states “I was cold and hard and tough as hell.” Johnson appears to commend the toughness of the U.S military commander who “had to order his people to start shooting,” killing 20 Panamanians “I am not trying to unjustify it or justify it,” the President tells Russell it’s a hot [situation]—hot as a firecracker.” President Johnson rethinks his “cold and hard” position and turns to diplomacy to address the Panama Canal crisis situation he places a call to Panamanian President Roberto Chiari to mark the restoration of diplomatic ties and to inform him of the appointment of a “special ambassador,” Robert M to begin negotiations with Panama on the conflict over the Canal Zone Chiari is recorded telling Johnson that it is time for “a complete revision of the treaty,” which has become “the source of dissatisfaction” for the Panamanian people In the seven-and-a-half-minute telephone call is willing to negotiate but with “no pre-conditions.” Over the next three years Ambassador Anderson negotiates a “package” of three treaties But the treaty ratification process is aborted when the U.S Congress rejects the accord and Panamanian President Marco Robles fails to sign the accord amidst political turmoil before the 1968 elections is overthrown in a military coup that eventually brings a National Guard officer One day after President Johnson and Panamanian President Marco Robles announce agreement on three new treaties—the Lock Canal Treaty and the Defense Treaty—this memorandum to Secretary of State Dean Rusk summarizes the provisions in the new accords The treaties replace the 1903 original agreement establish a “Joint Administration of the Panama Canal” to operate the Panama Canal and administer the “Canal Area,” and grant the U.S rights to construct a new sea-level canal within the next 20 years “the United States retains certain defense areas in which it may maintain its Armed Forces” and where it can act unilaterally to defend those areas this package agreement was never ratified by the U.S it was overtaken by a military coup in 1968 National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger requests an interagency study on prospects for negotiating a new Panama Canal treaty Three issues are to be addressed: 1) Identifying U.S along with timing and options “to achieve those objectives;” 2) An evaluation of the treaties prepared in 1967 and what changes should be made to them; and 3) evaluation of U.S policy towards the government of General Omar Torrijos and the internal situation in Panama as it would relate to advancing a new accord on the Canal Zone In response to an interagency study on prospects for a Panama Canal treaty President Nixon issues National Security Decision Memorandum 64 ordering his national security team to begin “exploratory and preliminary talks” with Panamanian leaders Nixon cites several “nonnegotiable” issues: effective U.S control of canal operations; effective U.S control of canal defense; and “continuation of these controls for an extended period of time preferably open-ended.” Ensuing meetings with Panamanian officials result in extensive negotiations on those very issues which eventually become the core of the new treaty “to undertake formal negotiations with Panama with a view to obtaining agreement on the text of a draft treaty this year.” Nixon’s instructions also provide more latitude to Anderson to negotiate a shorter time period for phasing out U.S In a third national security directive on Panama President Nixon authorizes Special Ambassador Robert Anderson to negotiate “the possibility of a termination formula” for the treaty The CIA’s Office of Current Intelligence produced a comprehensive 13-page assessment that reviewed the history of negotiations on the Canal and provided substantive insight into the negotiating approach of General Omar Torrijos “Torrijos’ efforts to demonstrate to Washington that he could be tough have always been balanced by signals that he was really quite reasonable,” the CIA analysis concluded if he can get fairly complete jurisdiction over the Zone in a relatively short period of time and if he can significantly shorten the duration period that was embodied in the 1967 drafts then a treaty agreement may be possible in 1973.” Secretary of State Kissinger met in Panama with Panamanian Foreign Minister Juan Antonio Tack and signed a framework for Canal negotiations known as the “Declaration of Principles.” The two countries agreed that the original 1903 Treaty had essentially imposed on the Panamanian people would be replaced by a new interoceanic canal treaty; the concept of “perpetuity” of U.S control over the Canal Zone would be eliminated The territory of the Canal Zone would return to Panamanian sovereignty and Panama would have “a just and equitable share of the benefits derived from the operation of the canal in its territory,” the joint agreement stated “The Republic of Panama shall participate with the United States of America in the protection and defense of the canal in accordance with what is agreed upon in the new treaty,” according to a key principle Both countries would also participate in the expansion of the canal should such development be needed in the future The “principles” framework becomes the foundation for a renewed three-year effort during the Ford and Carter administrations to negotiate a new Panama Canal treaty The State Department sends the White House a “roadmap” on the status of Canal treaty negotiations identifying decisions to be made and actions to be taken “Now there has been a negotiating breakthrough: a new treaty is in sight,” according to the secret memorandum But there are significant political obstacles to overcome “A new treaty could constitute a striking foreign-policy achievement for the Administration,” the memo advises “It will not be easy to move a treaty through the Senate But the real problem derives more from ignorance than antipathy.” sends Kissinger material for President Ford including a public relations plan to educate the Congress and influence opinion polls on the treaty The memo to the President provides a comprehensive update on the status of negotiations that “have progressed to a critical point at which certain tradeoffs are necessary to reach an agreement.” Ambassador Bunker seeks a “certain flexibility” in his presidential instructions in order to finalize the treaty possibly involving violence against the Canal Zone plus a consequent deterioration of our relations in Latin America and mounting world censure.” President Gerald Ford convenes an NSC meeting to discuss negotiations for a new Panama Canal treaty that would eventually cede control of the Canal Zone back to the Panamanians The meeting not only covers key areas such as the duration of the treaty and U.S but also the conflicting domestic and international political pressures on Washington that as Secretary of State Kissinger makes clear necessitate the negotiations to conclude after the 1976 presidential election The lack of support in the United States for returning the Canal Zone to Panamanian sovereignty is also a subject of the NSC meeting Kissinger states that “from the foreign policy point of view domestically I’ve already encountered enough opponents to know what a barrier exists.” Kissinger points out that abandoning negotiations for a new treaty would generate turmoil in the canal zone upheaval in the region and world-wide condemnation “We would have [a] real uproar…demonstrations and we would be dragged into every international forum President Ford convenes his national security team to discuss the Canal negotiations which have come to a stalemate as the two sides disagree on major issues “Negotiations are stalled and everyone is getting itchy,” Kissinger reports to the President “It is not difficult to foresee that unless we begin the negotiations again there will be increasing unrest and eventually all Latin Americans will join in and we will have a cause celebre on our hands.” The meeting to address the issue of whether the President should favor a new treaty given its domestic unpopularity and the political risks for his election in 1976 exposed divergent opinions among top national security officials we want a treaty,” Ford tells his advisors President Ford issues a national security decision directive authorizing U.S negotiators to “proceed promptly” to restart talks and address outstanding issues operational control and defense of the Zone before Panama assumes those duties He also directs his negotiators “to obtain Panama’s agreement that the negotiations will remain confidential so that the Panama Canal issue will not be injected into the domestic political process in the United States in 1976.” The NSC specialist on the National Security Council His memo provides a brief overview of the history of the negotiations starting with the January 1964 riots in the Canal Zone which left four U.S The memo also reports on the “threshold agreements” on U.S control and defense of the Canal that negotiations during the Ford administration have advanced among them the duration of time before Panama assumes control of the Canal Zone will have a formal role in guaranteeing the future neutrality of the Canal NSC Latin America specialist Stephen Low sends National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft an overview on the issue of whether the Canal Zone is actually U.S “Whether we have full sovereignty or ownership over the Canal is not central to the issue,” he argues “The argument can go on and become very complex The important point is that it is not central to continuing the negotiations which are based on an assessment of our national interests.” The public argument that should be made is that “We are continuing these negotiations because the last three Presidents have all examined the matter carefully and found that our national interest in preserving access to the Canal over the long term is better served by negotiating a new arrangement with Panama.” Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XXII, Panama, 1973–1976, Document 131 Kissinger and his top aides discuss whether to send Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker back to Panama for another negotiating session and any finalization of the treaty will complicate Gerald Ford’s chances of re-election as well as create problems for pushing a finalized treaty forward if he loses Assistant Secretary of State Harry Shlaudeman tells Kissinger that sending Bunker to Panama in September “would be a good step in keeping Torrijos quiet more or less.” “I have no problem with the going,” Kissinger responds One week after Jimmy Carter’s inauguration his top national security aides hold a Policy Review Committee (PRC) meeting meet to discuss renewing negotiations on a Panama Canal treaty The meeting addresses preparations for a visit from Panama’s foreign minister for “informal talks” on the Canal treaty and how to set the diplomatic stage for reviving negotiations conducted by the Ford administration The PRC concludes that the new administration should reaffirm the “Tack-Kissinger Principles” (a general outline of an agreement signed by then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger with the Panamanians) beginning with exploratory talks but with a goal to finalize a new treaty by mid-1977 The PRC also “suggested that a National Citizens Committee on the Panama Canal be set up to stimulate a national educational campaign” in order to shift public opinion in favor of returning the Canal Zone to Panamanian sovereignty National Security Advisor Brzezinski transmits a summary of the conclusions to President Carter advising him that he should mention Panama in his fireside chat This secret cable transmits President Carter’s first message to Panamanian chief of state agreeing to re-open negotiations on a Canal treaty Carter’s letter comes in response to a communique Torrijos sent the new U.S president in late February asking to continue negotiations that had started during the Ford administration “I can assure you that the United States wishes to proceed cooperatively to meet the proper concerns of both Panama and the United States,” Carter writes “My purpose lies in assuring that the Canal will remain permanently open and of use to the ships of all the world The treaty should provide for an arrangement which allows the United States to meet its responsibility to operate the canal during the treaty's lifetime and which recognizes our security interest in the continuing neutrality of and access to the canal after the termination date of the treaty.” Carter’s letter concludes that “I will be pleased if we can agree on a new treaty and meet personally to sign it on behalf of our two countries.” Zbigniew Brzezinski advises President Carter on the “momentous” decision he faces to finalize the Panama Canal treaties The Panamanians want a significant financial “package” of U.S it is unlikely that the Senate will ratify the treaty security and Carter’s own political interests “A defeat in the Congress on this issue will not only jeopardize the Canal and our relations with Panama and Latin America; because you will have to invest so much of your political capital in this effort a defeat might strike a significant blow at your overall effectiveness.” But denying the Panamanians the sizeable economic payout they sought also carried major risks of the negotiations breaking down “With equally high probability,” Brzezinski counsels The Canal would be jeopardized and relations with Panama and all of Latin America and the developing world would be seriously harmed.” As Carter prepares for a meeting with General Torrijos’ emissaries Brzezinski suggests he “convey directly to them and indirectly to Torrijos your strong commitment to a new treaty and your equally strong feelings about what the United States can do economically to help Panama and more importantly what the U.S President Carter agrees to meet with two emissaries of General Omar Torrijos to explain his administration’s final proposals after more than a decade of negotiations on the future of the Canal Zone Secretary of State Cyrus Vance provides Carter with this briefing memorandum on the remaining issues to be resolved Vance also provides a draft of a letter for Carter to give to the emissaries for General Torrijos negotiators would soon return to Panama with final proposals on annual payments to Panama that “we truly believe to be fair and just,” even if they were “less than you had expected or wished.” Carter asked Torrijos to understand the political pressures and widespread opposition the treaties faced in Washington that threatened ratification by the U.S “With understanding and patience,” Carter concludes “I believe we can move quickly forward and achieve the goal that has eluded past governments and leaders in both our countries.” negotiators Ellsworth Bunker and Sol Linowitz report on a five-hour negotiating session on final points of contention on the treaty At issue is the language that would prevent Panama from drawing on third countries to help it construct a second Canal—a provision the U.S from building a second canal through another Central American nation Bunker and Linowitz predict that “barring quite unforeseen problems we will be able to reach conceptual agreement early next week” and “final texts will be ready before long.” Just two weeks before the formal signing of the canal treaties in Washington President Carter places a call to General Torrijos to discuss final arrangements for the ceremony The discussion focuses mostly on how invitations will be made to all the heads of state in Latin America Torrijos suggests inviting Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau It was only with great moral courage that our ends could be achieved,” Torrijos tells Carter at the end of the conversation “I am proud of the progress we have made,” Carter responds One day before the treaty-signing ceremony President Carter holds a bilateral meeting with General Torrijos at the White House to discuss coordinating statements during the campaign in both countries to obtain ratification of the new accords and to evaluate the importance of this international accomplishment according to the memorandum of conversation of their meeting expressed “profound admiration for the President's honesty and political valor.” He compared Carter’s “act of valor” to bring a decade of negotiations to fruition to “jumping from an airplane without a parachute to take on this battle.” For his part President Carter called the treaty “the right fair and decent thing to do” and predicted “it would eventually prove to be a popular accomplishment for him and his Administration.” Carter said “the climate would improve as the American people came to understand the terms of the treaty and to realize the unfairness of the past.” According to Carter “the treaty opened the way to a new era of mutual respect In Panama, Rubio Says China Threatens Canal, Demanding ‘Immediate’ Action Panama’s Mulino meets US Secretary of State Rubio after Trump canal threat Secretary Rubio in Panama as conflict swirls over control of the canal Gelman LibraryThe George Washington University2130 H Street Phone: 202/994-7000Fax: 202/994-7005Contact by email support our work - donate The National Security Archive is committed to digital accessibility. If you experience a barrier that affects your ability to access content on this page, let us know via our Contact form Contents of this website (c) The National Security Archive 1985-2025For educational or noncommercial use contact the Archive using the form above for permission While planning her project as the first-ever Student Storyteller in Residence for the Center for Great Plains Studies earlier this year Karla Hernandez Torrijos reflected on what the Great Plains meant to her Though she had countless reasons to be thankful for growing up immersed in them she knew her experiences alone weren’t enough to provide a complete picture. “I can't singularly tell the story of the Great Plains,” Hernandez Torrijos “That doesn't feel genuine to what the project should be because there’s not one single voice of the Great Plains.” The realization sparked her exhibit “Dear Great Plains,” a collection of over 70 (and counting) postcards to the Great Plains that are on display in the Great Plains Museum through May. “I'd always loved the act of letter writing and that sparked the idea of bringing a project like this to the Center,” Hernandez Torrijos said “Letter writing forces you to be really intentional about what you want to express.” A multidisciplinary writer whose first book is set to be published this year Hernandez Torrijos didn’t know what to expect when she began soliciting postcards from friends classmates and anyone who would respond. “People have written recipes; people have written poems — we’ve even had a few little kids that drew pictures,” Hernandez Torrijos said “I made a point of asking people to write honestly whatever this place invokes in you.” Offering people the chance to have their words on display brought Hernandez Torrijos an important realization about access to art. “A lot of people love and want to create art I think a lot of people are waiting for that invitation to create,” Hernandez Torrijos said “If you have ever felt or been told that you could not be an artist Karla was especially moved by postcards reflecting her own experience coming from an immigrant family “Lots of folks wrote about their experiences migrating here and describing how the plains have become a home Some parts of this site work best with JavaScript enabled Martín Torrijos served as president of Panama from 2004 to 2009 Torrijos served as deputy minister for the interior and justice handling matters involving national security as well as a modernization of the national penitentiary system Torrijos oversaw the passing of a USD 5 billion expansion plan of the Panama Canal and negotiated the Panama-US Trade Promotion Agreement Torrijos received his BA in economics and political science from Texas A&M University in College Station Torrijos joined the Dialogue as a member in 2010 The Dialogue is a hemispheric organization that builds networks of cooperation and action to advance democratic resilience and sustainable development across the Americas and enhance collaboration to unlock meaningful change in the Western Hemisphere Inter-American Dialogue1155 15th Street NW | Suite 800Washington, DC 20005 P: +1-202-822-9002F: +1-202-822-9553 We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze how you use this website and provide the content and advertisements that are relevant to you These cookies will only be stored in your browser with your prior consent You can choose to enable or disable some or all of these cookies but disabling some of them may affect your browsing experience Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns View the discussion thread. can be found at the Milwaukee High School of the Arts working with her student John Laura The two share a deep connection—both are blind and have been since they were young who was a blind student in MPS after her family immigrated from Mexico when she was in middle school "When my family and I moved to this country it was eye-opening because I was able to go to school with everyone where she was in a school specifically for blind students "She is an example of what happens when you're just given your wings to fly," said Julie Hapeman who was Torrijos' first instructor when she arrived to MPS I'm not going to lie to you," JT told TMJ4 Guadalupe finally got her Green Card two years ago the process could come with financial challenges as immigrants—we try to do work and provide," Torrijos said but it's so hard for us to be legal because of the fees." Watch: Blind MPS educator known for inspiring students needs help renewing Green Card That's the reason Hapeman is trying to help through a GoFundMe fundraiser. "She's the kind of person that you want as a citizen," Hapeman said she is contributing to society in meaningful ways." "My goal is for them to be independent," Torrijos said I feel like I just want them to have the same opportunities I have." Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more. Report a typo or error // Submit a news tip Report a typo Officials sign the Panama Canal treaties Sept From left: President Jimmy Carter; Organization of American States Secretary-General Alejandro Orfila; and Panama's head of government Omar Torrijos It was a territory known to some who lived there as a tropical utopia. The Canal Zone in Panama had been under U.S. control for nearly 75 years. But in 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed treaties with Panama's leader they agreed to gradually hand back control of the narrow "It was like if you'd taken a slice of Ohio and transplanted it in Panama," says Ed Scott The stretch of land 50 miles long and 10 miles wide in the middle of the Panamanian isthmus had been under U.S with construction of the canal starting in earnest the following year Living in the zone meant access to free housing little-league football and Fourth of July parades But when Panamanians set foot in the Canal Zone their citizenship rights were void and they could be prosecuted under different laws and regulations control of the Canal Zone had been growing for some years This antipathy came to a violent head on Jan Zone authorities had decreed that neither U.S or Panamanian flags would be displayed in schools in the Canal Zone But a dispute over this burst into violence and led to the deaths of over 20 Panamanians and four U.S Panamanian students carry a large flag along Fourth of July Avenue in Panama City after Canal Zone police fired at them with tear-gas guns rioting that followed a fight over flag rights in the Canal Zone resulted in the deaths of over 20 Panamanians and four U.S The Canal Zone was constructed following Jim Crow policies of segregation citizens and their dependents were granted certain rights based on race took the bulk of low-paying jobs and lived in the Canal Zone's segregated neighborhoods "It was one of the most clear examples of taking a very specific U.S. racial hierarchy at a legislative level system to another part of the Americas and sort of implementing it there," says Kaysha Corinealdi, historian and author of Panama In Black "So it very much created a road map of inequality," Corinealdi says President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos sign the Panama Canal Treaties But President Carter alongside Panamanian military leader Torrijos upended everything when they negotiated and signed the Panama treaties in September 1977 The Panama Canal Treaty promised to give control of the canal to the Panamanians by midnight Dec The Treaty of Permanent Neutrality and Operation declared the canal neutral and open to vessels of all nations and allowed the U.S to retain the permanent right to defend the canal from any threat Together both these treaties acknowledged the Republic of Panama's sovereignty over its nation and full operational control of the canal connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans Some Zonians — as Canal Zone residents were often referred to — and conservative legislators in Washington were not happy about the new treaties who later worked for the Carter administration "There were concerns that Panamanians didn't have the skill sets to do the heavy-duty engineering work and supervise the locks overall," Scott says there were many more who viewed Carter's signing as capitulation to a Panamanian government led by a military dictator and harmful to both American military and economic interests The Carter administration faced a battle in the U.S we bought and we paid for it and we should keep it," Republican Sen But one of the Democratic president's staunchest supporters in this battle came from a surprising corner Movie star and Republican John Wayne was a friend of the Panamanian leader and wrote countless letters to senators in support of President Carter The efforts of the Carter administration finally prevailed and by the following year The Torrijos-Carter Treaties played a major role in breaking down inequalities and opened the door to career opportunities for Panamanians The two countries worked together to lay out a 20-year staggered transition plan that Scott claims "was a huge success." The divided worlds between the Canal Zone and Panama started to dissolve slowly over the next few years and blend together And the comfortable lifestyle of many Americans living in the zone started to slowly decompose Resentful Zonians mourned the loss of their privileged lifestyle. Some youngsters took to wearing a T-shirt showing a green monster raising a middle finger, with the legend "To Jimmy from the Canal Zone." Canal Zone buildings were required to fly the Panamanian flag alongside the Stars and Stripes A basketball court-size Panamanian flag was raised on top of the highest hill overlooking Panama City Omar Torrijos wave from an open car during a motorcade in Panama City The Panamanian government assumed full control over the police pools and recreational facilities started to close and as a result many service-industry laborers lost their jobs White neighborhoods in the zone became more racially diverse as Panamanians moved into homes there to set up training programs in order to increase the number of Panamanians qualified for higher-level jobs A year later, after the initial signing in 1977, President Carter paid a 23-hour visit to Panama in June the following year to formally exchange the documents ratifying the treaties with Gen. Torrijos. In a speech after the signing Carter said the moment marked a renewed commitment to "the principles of peace mutual respect and cooperation" between the United States and Latin America To President Carter, the treaties signified the removal of "the last remnant of alleged American colonialism" in Latin America By the time the handover was completed on Dec Panamanians had developed the skills and expertise to assume full responsibility for the management operation and maintenance of the Panama Canal and the Canal Zone president who recognized the urgent need to review the outdated Panama Canal Treaty and the U.S "Carter was the one who started it," she says "He really took this on more than any other president in history." Rolando Arrieta grew up in Panama City and went to Canal Zone schools Become an NPR sponsor with more than 20 years of work dedicated to reflecting the reality of Panama told the press the day before the premiere that the film reveals the diplomatic games played by General Omar Torrijos (1929-1981) to achieve sovereignty over the waterway The documentary that arrives tomorrow in theaters owes its name to writer and journalist Gabriel García Márquez when he described Torrijos as a cross between a tiger and a mule He had the stealth of a tiger and the stubbornness of a mule Canavaggio underscored her intention that young people should know their history and be part of it and urged them to see the film “to know why we must defend what is and always has been ours,” she said the story is based on archive images which were accessed through trips to the United States Interviews were conducted with Aristides Royo friends and residents of Coclesito who knew General Torrijos´ directive | Text SMS to 8100 with content PLReceive 4 mesages x 25 cup © 2016-2021 Prensa Latina Latin American News Agency Radio – Publications – Videos – News by the minute.All Rigts Reserved Web Site developed by IT Division Prensa Latina Your access to this service has been limited If you think you have been blocked in error contact the owner of this site for assistance If you are a WordPress user with administrative privileges on this site please enter your email address in the box below and click "Send" You will then receive an email that helps you regain access Wordfence is a security plugin installed on over 5 million WordPress sites The owner of this site is using Wordfence to manage access to their site You can also read the documentation to learn about Wordfence's blocking tools or visit wordfence.com to learn more about Wordfence Click here to learn more: Documentation Generated by Wordfence at Tue, 6 May 2025 7:44:21 GMT.Your computer's time: document.write(new Date().toUTCString());. COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino paid tribute to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday at age 100, highlighting his crucial role in returning the Panama Canal to Panamanian control, even as former U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to reclaim the strategic waterway. “His time in the White House marked complex times, which for Panama were crucial in managing to negotiate and agree on the Torrijos-Carter Treaties in 1977,” Mulino stated on social media platform X. “Through these treaties, we achieved the transfer of the Canal to Panamanian hands and our country’s full sovereignty. Peace to his soul.” The Panama Canal, constructed by the United States and opened in 1914, was transferred to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999, following the historic 1977 treaties signed by Carter and Panamanian nationalist leader Omar Torrijos. The 80-kilometer waterway, which handles 5% of international maritime trade, has become vital to Panama’s economy, contributing 6% to the country’s GDP. However, this legacy faces new challenges as Trump, who will return to the White House in January, threatened on Saturday to demand the return of the canal to U.S. control if toll prices for American ships aren’t reduced. This demand comes despite the fact that vessel tariffs are not determined by country of origin. Mulino strongly rejected these claims at a press conference: “The canal is Panamanian and belongs to Panamanians. There is no possibility of opening any kind of conversation around this reality, which has cost the country tears, sweat, and blood.” The Panama Foreign Ministry emphasized Carter’s lasting impact, stating his “leadership was fundamental in strengthening the bonds between our nations” and that the treaties “marked a new era of cooperation and mutual respect” between both countries. Currently, the United States remains the canal’s primary user, accounting for 74% of cargo traffic, followed by China at 21%. As the waterway approaches its 25th anniversary under Panamanian sovereignty, this latest diplomatic tension highlights ongoing challenges in U.S.-Panama relations. Open navigation Close navigation Home All the major chapters in the American story from Indigenous beginnings to the present day History from countries and communities across the globe putting the strategic waterway into Panamanian hands for the first time Crowds of Panamanians celebrated the transfer of the 50-mile canal which links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and officially opened when the SS Arcon sailed through on August 15 over one million ships have used the canal viewing it as important to America’s economic and military interests Panama declared its independence from Colombia in a U.S.-backed revolution and the U.S and Panama signed the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty agreed to pay Panama $10 million for a perpetual lease on land for the canal Hailed as one of the great achievements of the 20th Century the Panama Canal connects 160 countries and 1,700 ports around the world Over 56,000 people worked on the canal between 1904 and 1913 and over 5,600 lost their lives was considered a great engineering marvel and represented America’s emergence as a world power Ships pay tolls to use the canal, based on each vessel’s size and cargo volume. In May 2006, the Maersk Dellys paid a record toll of $249,165. The smallest-ever toll—36 cents—was paid by Richard Halliburton, who swam the canal in 1928. A staggering 25,000 workers lost their lives. And artificial limb makers clamored for contracts with the canal builders. By: Christopher Klein Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on December 31st Queen Elizabeth I of England grants a formal charter to the London merchants trading to the East Indies, hoping to break the Dutch monopoly of the spice trade in what is now Indonesia. In the first few decades of its existence, the East India Company made far less progress in the East Indies than it […] On December 31, 1775, Patriot forces under Colonel Benedict Arnold and General Richard Montgomery attempt to capture the city of Quebec under cover of darkness and snowfall. They fail, and the effort costs Montgomery his life. On December 2, Arnold, Montgomery and their troops met on the outskirts of Quebec and demanded the surrender of […] On December 31, 1862, the U.S.S. Monitor sinks in a storm off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Just nine months earlier, the ship had been part of a revolution in naval warfare when the ironclad dueled to a standstill with the C.S.S. Virginia (Merrimack) off Hampton Roads, Virginia, in one of the most famous naval battles […] In the first public demonstration of his incandescent lightbulb, American inventor Thomas Alva Edison lights up a street in Menlo Park, New Jersey. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company ran special trains to Menlo Park on the day of the demonstration in response to public enthusiasm over the event. Although the first incandescent lamp had been produced […] On December 31, 1961, President John F. Kennedy issued a statement extending his “sincere wishes” and those of the American people to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and the people of the Soviet Union for a peaceful and prosperous New Year. It was the height of the Cold War and the United States and Soviet Union […] The Soviet Union’s TU-144 supersonic airliner makes its first flight, several months ahead of the Anglo-French Concorde. The TU-144 so closely resembled the Concorde that the Western press dubbed it the “Konkordski.” In 1962, 15 years after U.S. pilot Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier, Britain and France signed a treaty to develop the […] Roberto Clemente, future Hall of Fame baseball player, is killed along with four others when the cargo plane in which he is traveling crashes off the coast of Puerto Rico. Clemente was on his way to deliver relief supplies to Nicaragua following a devastating earthquake there a week earlier. At the end of September, Clemente […] Bernhard Goetz, the white man who shot four young Black men on a New York City subway train, turns himself in at a police station in Concord, New Hampshire. Goetz claimed that the men were trying to rob him and that he had acted in self-defense. At the time, New York was in the midst of […] Former teen idol Rick Nelson dies in a plane crash in De Kalb, Texas, on December 31, 1985. When the teenage Ricky Nelson launched his pop career in 1957 by picking up a guitar and singing at the end of an episode of The Adventures of Ozzie And Harriet, he established a template for pop-music […] On December 31, 1988, the Chicago Bears defeat the Philadelphia Eagles, 20-12, in a playoff game plagued by a thick fog starting late in the first half. Playing conditions at Soldier Field in Chicago become problematic, and fans in attendance and television viewers struggle to see the game, dubbed the “Fog Bowl” by media. […] On New Year’s Eve, 1999, Boris Yeltsin, the first president of the Russian Federation, resigns after eight years in office. The presidency passes to the prime minister, Vladimir Putin, a former intelligence officer who will quickly become the central figure in Russian politics and play a major role in global affairs in the new century. On New Year’s Eve 2019, China’s Wuhan government reports a cluster of cases of what it calls pneumonia. That virus causes an infectious disease later known as COVID-19, which quickly morphs into a global pandemic that causes nearly 7 million deaths. The announcement came from the Wuhan Municipal Health Organization in China’s Hubei Province. Just […] The Mariana Trench remained undiscovered until a crew from the HMS Challenger unsuspectingly lowered a weighted rope into its immense depths. These iconic structures showcase the sleek geometry and lavish detail that defined early 20th-century architecture. In 1934, wind gusts of 231 miles per hour roared over the top of Mount Washington, rattling the weathermen who managed to record it. Get the story behind Dwight Eisenhower’s grueling, 62-day cross-country road trip that inspired the creation of the Interstate Highway System. We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate Uncover fascinating moments from the past every day Learn something new with key events in history from the American Revolution to pop culture you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Global Media You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States Source: TH Context: The Panama Canal, a critical global trade route has become a point of contention after U.S President-elect Donald Trump criticized the Torrijos-Carter Treaties as “foolish” Google Map+ Google Map+ Google Map+ Google Map+ Google Map+ Google Map+ Insights IAS: Simplifying UPSC IAS Exam Preparation Contact Us: Call us at 080 69405205 (toll-free) Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity to participate in the Scholarship Test nor will we add another star to the flag of the United States," said the late Panamanian leader General Omar Torrijos "The United States has vetoed Panama's resolution but the world has vetoed the United States," said then Panamanian Foreign Minister Juan Antonio Tack 26 (Xinhua) -- Panama's decades-long struggle to reclaim sovereignty over the Panama Canal reached a boiling point in the 1960s Escalating protests and international diplomacy ultimately reshaped the country's relationship with the United States Inspired by Egypt's 1956 nationalization of the Suez Canal Panamanians intensified calls to revise the Panama Canal Treaty the "Flag Protests" escalated into violent clashes after U.S residents in the Panama Canal Zone tore a Panamanian flag leaving more than 20 dead and several hundred others seriously injured The violence prompted Panama to appeal to international bodies the United Nations Security Council held a rare session in Panama City with the late Panamanian leader General Omar Torrijos delivering a blistering speech condemning U.S nor will we add another star to the flag of the United States," Torrijos declared A draft resolution supporting Panamanian sovereignty won the backing of 13 out of 15 Security Council members the United States exercised its veto power blocking the resolution despite its broad support The veto galvanized international sympathy for Panama's cause The world finally understood Panama's struggle former foreign policy advisor and honorary president of the Center for Asian Strategic Studies of Panama the Torrijos-Carter Treaties were signed by Torrijos and then U.S establishing that the Panama Canal would be turned over to Panamanian control on Dec As part of the Center for Great Plains Studies’ new Student Storyteller in Residence initiative Husker student Karla Hernandez Torrijos spent the past year asking people to write postcards to the Great Plains community storytelling project that will be on view at the Great Plains Art Museum starting Nov “The project hopes to tell a different story of the Great Plains: more complex more diverse and more nuanced,” wrote Hernandez Torrijos Dozens of postcards will be on view on the mezzanine level of the museum and visitors can write their own to add to the project The opening reception for “Dear Great Plains” will take place during First Friday Hernandez Torrijos is a poet and workshop facilitator who has read at such Nebraska venues as The Bay El Museo Latino and the Wick Alumni Center She has received the 2024 Gaffney Prize for Poetry Wood Prize for Poetry and 2021 Vreeland Award for Poetry and was the 2021–22 Creative in Community Resident for The LUX Center for the Arts Hernandez Torrijos’ writing interrogates one’s understanding of home displacement and the liminal space in between Her chapbook “saturn devouring his daughter” is forthcoming from Game Over Books The Student Storyteller in Residence program is funded by the Michael Farrell Fund for Student Storytelling administered through the University of Nebraska Foundation WEST ALLIS, Wisc — A few weeks ago, we spoke with Ana Gonzalez the owner of Piece of Love Bakery in West Allis She was recovering from a devastating hit-and-run that had shut down her business for a few months our Elaine Rojas-Castillo met Guiller Torrijos another Mexican food truck just down the road from Piece of Love that wanted to support her fellow business owner and create a space for other Latino business owners to thrive in the community Watch: Latino small business owners hope to grow and build community in West Allis We want them to know our culture for what it is and to have that appreciation for what we have to offer,” said Torrijos That passion pushed Torrijos to open up her truck this spring “We always knew we wanted our own business into the community here in West Allis,” said Torrijos Customers like Liliana Ramirez are definitely starting to notice it's really important for people just to show who they are and be proud and I think what they're doing is just amazing,” said Ramirez Torrijos says she has also been trying to encourage other Latino entrepreneurs to join her she will be meeting with the head of the West Allis Neighborhood Association to discuss ways to build up the area near 60th and Burnham and welcome a new era of success in her hometown “If we can make something where we can work together to bring up our business and encourage others to bring business to our community This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page former Panamanian President Martín Torrijos intends to expand the Panama Canal’s business beyond merely crossing ships to generate more income for the Central American country and create jobs Martín Torrijos governed between 2004 and 2009 This is the first time he has aspired to re-election in a country that prohibits it for two consecutive terms According to polls, he ranks second in preference among the eight candidates, tied with opposition lawyer Ricardo Lombana, and behind right-wing candidate José Raúl Mulino, who replaced the disqualified former President Ricardo Martinelli. His main plan is to expand the canal’s basin through which 6% of world maritime trade circulates through the development of a logistics industry that adds value to the cargo passing through the interoceanic waterway he wants to build highways that connect ports and airports to facilitate the transport of goods around the canal on whose banks he intends to install new companies “The geographical position is our greatest asset the development of the country is linked to logistics capacity the canal that today only crosses cargo and passes ships [we want it to] become the canal that generates new business opportunities for Panamanians,” he said “It is practically equivalent to developing another canal,” added the former president after a walk on Saturday with supporters through Nuevo Tocumen The Panama Canal connects the Pacific Ocean with the Atlantic The main business of the waterway is container transport although the transport of liquefied natural gas between Asia and the United States has gained prominence The canal contributes an annual average of 6% of Panama’s GDP and at least 20% of government revenue companies can be established for data centers with a highway that goes to the border with Costa Rica […] we have the potential to be the most important logistics hub in the Americas and that is what we have to focus on in the coming years,” he said The Panama Canal faces a crisis due to lack of rainfall which has forced a reduction in ship transit Torrijos considers it necessary to “expand the basin” of the waterway to obtain new water resources “Difficult not to do anything.” Martín Torrijos is the son of General Omar Torrijos President Jimmy Carter the treaties that allowed the handover of the canal to Panama at the end of 1999 the ruling social democratic party founded by his father and set out to seek the presidency with the support of disillusioned ruling party members independents and a small Christian Democrat-oriented group “After making an analysis and seeing the conditions of the country it was really difficult not to do anything it was a decision of conscience,” he said The presidential contest is open after the favorite Martinelli remains in asylum at the Nicaraguan embassy to avoid a prison sentence for money laundering Martinelli “has a legal problem with Panama and he has to face his problem in Panama,” Torrijos said he promised not to take sides with any of the great powers we do understand the level of tensions in the relationship between China and the United States neither China nor the United States,” Torrijos declared echoing his father’s phrase “neither with the left nor with the right.” He said that his country must be “above ideology” and play a role as mediator and facilitator of Latin American integration have an international presence with our own characteristics with our own vision of the world and contribute to bringing goals closer,” he added he also pointed out: “We have a relationship with China and we have to try to take advantage of it for the benefit of Panama.” And so thank you for having me here and I look forward to returning to Panama as a private citizen to enjoy this beautiful country president of the Republic of Panama and a 1987 Texas A&M graduate has been selected as the recipient of the 2007 Texas A&M University Outstanding International Alumnus Award president of the Republic of Panama and a 1987 Texas A&M graduate has been selected as the recipient of the 2007 Texas A&M University Outstanding International Alumnus Award sponsored by the university and The Association of Former Students 28) during Texas A&M’s annual consuls general luncheon which is a highlight of International Week activities that began on campus Monday Davis said he is pleased that President Torrijos has been selected to receive this prestigious award “President Torrijos is a great example of what we would like all of our students to aspire to,” Davis said “He has helped export the core values of Texas A&M of excellence We appreciate all that he has done for his country and for the great example he sets for our students and alumni President Torrijos graduated from Texas A&M in 1987 with bachelor’s degrees in political science and economics After working in the United States for four years he returned to Panama and began his public service career He was Vice-Minister of Government and Justice from 1994-1998 During that time he was responsible for all aspects of national security His effort in the modernization of Panama’s penitentiary system has earned the appreciation of the United Nations he was elected as the General Secretary of the Revolutionary Democratic Party and in 2002 he was elected president of the Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean Torrijos was sworn in as the President of the Republic of Panama He has worked to bring reform and hope to the people of Panama the people of Panama approved his proposal to expand the Panama Canal which will increase the potential for commerce and provide jobs for many Panamanians leadership and perseverance led to the creation of the International Maritime University of Panama which will focus on research efforts in marine sciences President Torrijos attended a signing ceremony linking Texas A&M University at Galveston and the Panamanian institute in marine research Panama was elected to represent 35 Latin American and Caribbean countries in the United Nations Security Council Panama received an overwhelming approval with a total of 164 votes out of the 192 member U.N well over the required 120 votes to win one of the ten permanent seats on the Security Council The Outstanding International Alumnus Award is jointly sponsored by Texas A&M University and The Association of Former Students this award honors Texas A&M graduates who were not U.S but who went on to achieve prominence in education Those who are chosen for this award must have a good record of accomplishments that favorably reflect on his or her educational experience at Texas A&M The university’s presence in motorsports is a season-long story and celebration of purpose teamwork and the people who engineer a brighter Department of Chemistry doctoral student Evan Fox is pioneering research on sustainable battery materials that could reduce reliance on traditional resources and power the future of energy storage While most owners report behavior problems as relatively minor or not worth addressing Bonnie Beaver’s study finds that behavior problems are a common part of dog ownership watch videos and discover how Texas A&M University is shaping an innovative more secure future for the citizens of Texas and the world Icon DONATE General Torrijos on one of his visits to the countryside in Panama Torrijos: The Man and the Myth was a unique exhibition of never-before-published photographs of former Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos by Graciela Iturbide one of Mexico's most celebrated photographers Omar Torrijos was Panama's most famous leader (from 1968 to 1981) and is one of the best-known twentieth century figures throughout Latin America The exhibition was not only an homage to Omar Torrijos it is also the documentation of a period of social change in Panama Graciela Iturbide photographs a rural Panama and captures indigenous people in small villages across the land At times we see the clash between urban and rural life as Iturbide moved alongside General Torrijos from community to community Torrijos: The Man and the Myth will be accompanied by a bilingual publication by Umbrage Editions It will include all the exhibited photographs by Iturbide and never-before-told personal reminiscences by Gabriel García Marquez Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature who was a friend and confidant of General Torrijos Americas Society will host public lectures and other related cultural and education programs Americas Society gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Galería Emma Molina Halle Family Foundation and La Fundación/Colección Jumex Additional support has been provided by the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York mediarelations@as-coa.org © 2025 Americas Society/Council of the Americas I received funding from the University of Sheffield in the form of a Faculty grant in order to be able to carry out my PhD research University of Sheffield provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation UK View all partners Panama’s years under a military regime are something of a mystery While the world is well aware of how it ended not many know how it began or what it entailed for the people who lived under it a similar sort of amnesia holds sway in Panama itself Once in control, Martinez and Torrijos discovered that they had no shared government project, and they could not agree on a date when they would turn over control to the civilian authorities – and yet the ensuing regime lasted for more than two decades. More than 100 people are thought to have been killed and disappeared during its reign while countless more suffered torture and arbitrary detention There were two clear peaks of violent repression, one at the start of the regime and then another starting in the mid-1980s under Manuel Noriega the regime fought to eliminate the pro-Arias guerrillas in the provinces of Chiriqui and Cocle and struggled with in-fighting inside the security forces After relative stability was achieved in the early 1970s the regime managed to gradually co-opt a large part of the commercial elite It won the sympathies of civil servants and government advisors and with the help of subsidised housing and expansive government assistance programs brought in parts of the lower and middle class too But whenever this incentive-based style of political control failed, selected opponents were arbitrarily detained or forcefully exiled. The regime returned to the business of raw repression around 1984, and its support duly eroded. It was only brought down on December 20 1989 when US troops finally invaded the country and removed Noriega from office Despite the work of a state-sanctioned truth commission Panamanians themselves are largely unaware of the intricacies of the regime a sort of amnesia has set in – and along with it a cabbie told me that as many Panamanians see it “Torrijos was a cool guy” – and in reference to Noriega The lack of interest in the past also owes something to the survival of the political party which the military founded in 1978 to safeguard its power the Partido Democrático Revolucionario (PRD) Touting a logo of a circled white number 11 the PRD has over the years tried to distance itself from Noriega and whitewash what it calls the “revolutionary process” several of Panama’s post-dictatorship administrations were forced to strike political pacts with the PRD just to be able to govern Panama only had two nationally viable political parties both of which were associated with the regime era: on the one hand the PRD The birth of the centre-right Cambio Democrático (Democratic Change) party in 1998 somewhat alleviated this situation a genuine examination of the country’s painful recent past has not yet been forthcoming Whatever small gains have been made since the dictatorship fell were not part of a commitment to address the past but the result of spasmodic reactions by governments under pressure The truth commission was little more than a forced compromise for the president who established it, Mireya Moscoso She knew that mounting a full judicial process to examine the dictatorship’s crimes would have been impossible but the unearthing of human remains bearing visible signs of torture on the site of a former military base meant something had to be done Fraught with internal problems, the truth commission was underfunded and constantly harassed by the judiciary. In 2004, its first report was turned into a handbook to be included in the mandatory history curriculum, but once Torrijos’ son, Martin, was elected president that same year the handbook promptly disappeared from the repositories of the Ministry of Education the younger Torrijos also opened the door to meaningful forms of resolution He appointed one of the legal advisors to the Truth Commission she appointed a Special Investigating Agent to follow up on cases of forced disappearance and designed a policy that equated the crimes of the military regime to crimes against humanity and Panama has slowly been paying its dues to the surviving relatives And most recently, in April 2016, the commission took a historic step and declared a petition by victims of the military dictatorship admissible after almost 13 years of campaigning The original document asked that the state acknowledge that liberty and personal security had been violated Given that 109 of the regime’s victims were included in this package Many surviving relatives are unlikely to see their cases legally resolved inside Panama because of their old age and the difficulty of obtaining evidence as they have both been involved in negotiations with the representatives of the victims Varela administrations seem to be taking real steps towards acknowledging the suffering caused by the regime Former social-democratic ruler and Panamanian presidential candidate Martín Torrijos lashed out this Saturday against right-wing politician José Raúl Mulino whom he called a substitute for the “candidate of corruption” in reference to former President Ricardo Martinelli who is disqualified due to a corruption conviction and has been granted asylum in the Embassy of Nicaragua with his corrupt friends!” Torrijos said before a thousand supporters in a hotel hall in Panama City at the closing of the campaign for the May 5 elections “You have the opportunity to decide if you want the substitute for the candidate of corruption and impunity who has only committed to solving the problems of his friends with the law or if you choose those of us who are committed to forming a decent government and solving your problems,” he added is one of the favorites among eight candidates who will compete for the presidency in an election that is decided in a single round and by simple majority An April 16 poll by the Doxa firm placed Torrijos in third place with 13% of the vote intention behind Mulino (34%) and center-right lawyer and also opposition candidate Ricardo Lombana (15%) Mulino, former Security Minister under Martinelli (2009-2014) was a vice-presidential candidate on the former president’s ticket Martinelli was disqualified by the Electoral Tribunal after being sentenced to almost 11 years in prison for money laundering The former president has been granted asylum since February Panamanians who support Martinelli claim that during his government driven by large infrastructure works such as the expansion of the Panama Canal and the first metro line ‘He did but he stole’ is not valid (…) Not for the shameless ones from before or the shameless ones now,” Torrijos stated who managed to recover the interoceanic canal from American hands is running in these elections with a small Christian Democratic party after breaking more than a year ago with the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) founded by his father almost half a century ago who attended the rally with his wife and daughter told AFP while the song “Patria” by Panamanian singer Rubén Blades plays Former singer-songwriter-turned-lawyer Jimmy Bondoc will marry fellow lawyer Isabel Torrijos in February 2025 which Isabel credits as the foundation of their bond Isabel is also supporting Bondoc’s senatorial campaign a graduate of Ateneo de Manila University and the University of the East served as PAGCOR’s assistant vice president for Entertainment (2016) vice president for Corporate Social Responsibility (2017-2021) Their wedding will feature notable principal sponsors Bondoc still boasts over 700,000 monthly Spotify listeners with hits like “Let Me Be the One” and “I Believe” continuing to thrive Now running under Duterte’s PDP-Laban party in 2025 Bondoc’s platform focuses on eradicating corruption “My dream is to see a progressive Philippines,” Bondoc said our country will be more successful… Corruption is the enemy of progress and I will dedicate my life to ending it.” Bondoc also highlighted his plans to empower the entertainment industry “Music and entertainment are powerful tools for economic and cultural diplomacy,” he said “Imagine Filipino musicians topping international charts or our films winning global awards That’s not impossible as long as we get government support.” Malaya Business Insight comes to you in a very readable package: A fusion of in-depth news powerful commentaries and balanced updates on what is happening and about to happen in corporate board rooms in the diverse business and industry sectors in Philippine regional and global politics and in the exciting world of sports Developed by Neitiviti Studios « Back PRESIDENT BUSH: It's been my pleasure to welcome my friend I can't thank you enough for your friendship and your leadership relations between the United States and Panama are strong and healthy and vibrant I'll never forget being your guest in your beautiful country and going to see the Panama Canal And then when you shared with me your vision about the expansion of the Canal And the President has shared with me the expansion plans And I congratulate you very much for that progress Secondly The Panamanian free trade vote is a priority of this government It is -- it should be a priority of the United States Congress The President has heard a lot of talk about whether or not trade bills will move or not and I assured him that we will do everything in our capacity to move the trade bills -- not only the Panamanian bill but the Colombian bill and the Korean bill And I want to thank you for going up to the Hill to work the issue The President is deeply concerned about the cost of food for the citizens of his country I told him that if there's any way that we can help with food shortages But I appreciate your compassion and corazón grande And I assured him I understood that the drug issue is two-way: One that because too many of our citizens use drugs it provides an avenue for the movement of drugs And we've got to do a better job in America reducing the demand for drugs And we must also help our friends in the neighborhood deal with the suppliers of drugs The President is committed to sharing intelligence and working closely -- and so are we -- working closely together to prevent drugs from being transhipped through Panama which is bad for his country and bad for ours And there's a bill funding issue up on Congress called the Merida project but also works with our Central American friends It's a strategy designed by experts on both sides It's a strategy that we're convinced will work I ask Congress to pass the Merida project in whole as written I want to thank you for your interest in the region of Latin America You have not only studied the problems of Latin America And I want to thank you for your commitment on free trade and on the hopes that we can successfully conclude the trade bill we have together I want to thank you for the cooperation that we are experiencing in this difficult time regarding food prices and exchanging ideas on projects that we have on the bilateral agenda -- projects on education a mutual commitment of fighting drug trafficking to the benefit of both countries and building the capacity of the region to be able to handle the problems related to drugs and crime the friendship that Panama has with the United States and we hope that this success story of Panama and the United States solving the issue of the Panama Canal and now looking forward toward the future of the canal expansion is something that we always keep in mind in how we can build a mutual future This article is adapted from AQ’s special report on Latin America’s election super-cycle vice president and all 71 seats in its unicameral legislature in a single-round election on May 5 This page includes the four leading presidential candidates in April polling from CID Gallup We will occasionally update this page to reflect developments in the campaigns AQ also asked a dozen nonpartisan experts on Panama to help us identify where each candidate stands on two spectrums: left versus right on economic matters and a more personalistic leadership style versus an emphasis on institutions This piece is part of AQ’s ongoing coverage of upcoming elections His running mate, José Raúl Mulino, has announced that he will run in Martinelli’s place Ricardo Lombana | José Raúl Mulino | Rómulo Roux | Martín Torrijos Lombana is a lawyer and politician who served as a diplomat in Washington under President Martín Torrijos (2004-07) He later worked as an executive at the newspaper La Prensa before founding his law firm in 2013 In the aftermath of national demonstrations in 2022 and 2023 that crystallized discontent with the traditional political class Lombana’s independent bona fides have earned him supporters and momentum He is viewed as a “clean” candidate in a race dominated by discussions of corruption Panama’s election is decided in a single round he could win even without the support of a major party Lombana had spoken positively about the Cobre Panamá mine contract that sparked the 2023 demonstrations and changed his rhetoric when the protests were underway This may limit how much support he can channel from the protest movement He is also inexperienced at a tumultuous time when many voters may be looking for a seasoned Independents and a wide swath of the protest movement may be attracted to his campaign because he is not affiliated with traditional political parties As a centrist slightly to the left of the other major candidates he has some support among unions even as he remains broadly pro-business Martinelli was the clear front-runner before he was disqualified polling well ahead of all other candidates His administration is remembered largely for economic growth and poverty reduction which resonates with voters facing high inflation and unemployment rates Martinelli fully supports Mulino’s candidacy and Mulino will lean on Martinelli’s broad appeal Most Martinelli’s supporters—many of whom benefited from his presidency’s poverty reduction and infrastructure expansion—appear willing to back Mulino The public is frustrated by deficient services and perceived corruption at all levels of government Many voters see Martinelli and Mulino as capable of disrupting an unpopular status quo while also boosting growth and maintaining order a popular project of Martinelli’s presidency and revamp maintenance of the country’s highways Roux is an experienced lawyer and consultant He was president of the board that oversees the canal and was later canal minister (2009-12) under President Martinelli He then briefly served as Martinelli’s foreign minister until he resigned in 2013 to seek the center-right CD party’s presidential nomination Roux secured the CD nomination and ran for president in 2019 losing to Cortizo by just a narrow margin—less than 3% He is a proven campaigner and is viewed as a competent administrator Roux has the support of much of the CD party which has one of the country’s top national campaign machines and has been popular since its founding in 1998 He is popular among fiscal conservatives and the country’s medium to large business sector who led Panama’s military dictatorship from 1968 until his death in 1981 He worked in business before starting in Panama’s politics in 1992 as a youth leader in the Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD) party serving as vice interior minister from 1994-99 before winning the presidency The PRD is deeply unpopular, and Torrijos is still closely associated with it, even though he left the party as a dissident before the 2023 demonstrations he was forced to walk back some of his reform proposals Torrijos is popular among older nationalistic and conservative-leaning voters who remember him for reducing poverty and expanding the canal He may also be able to draw large numbers of disaffected PRD voters looking for a new party Reading Time: < 1 minuteBrown is an editor and production manager at Americas Quarterly Americas Quarterly (AQ) is the premier publication on politics We are an independent publication of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas PUBLISHED BY AMERICAS SOCIETY/ COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAS This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution. But three decades ago, the moves to nationalize the Panama Canal by President Torrijos’s father, General Omar Torrijos, met with enormous resistance in this country. Here, Ronald Reagan denounces Torrijos on national television in 1976 as part of his campaign for the Republican nomination. In 1977, under the Carter administration, General Torrijos succeeded in negotiating the treaties that would eventually give his country full sovereignty over the Panama Canal on December 31, 1999. But General Torrijos did not live to see this transfer of power. He died August 1, 1981 in a plane crash. Your thoughts, as Torrijos’s son is now meeting with President Bush? Something very, very significant is going on in Latin America today, and unfortunately not too many people are talking about it, except you. Well, I want to play a clip from this new docudrama that’s based on your life and story. It’s called Apology of an Economic Hit Man. This is a clip of Marta Roldos, the daughter of the former Ecuadorian president, Jaime Roldos. She’s talking about how the death of her father was investigated. Former Ecuadorian President Jaime Roldos died on May 24, 1981. Less than three months later, the leader of Panama, General Omar Torrijos, also died in a plane crash. This is a clip, also from the docudrama Apology of an Economic Hit Man, with Marta Roldos discussing Torrijos. I liked both of these men tremendously. I knew Torrijos especially well and was a great admirer of his. And I was caught in this very, very difficult situation, because my job was to corrupt him, and I really respected the fact that he wouldn’t be corrupted. It gave me great hope. In fact, it changed my life. It got me out of being an economic hit man. On the other hand, I knew that if I wasn’t able to corrupt him, something dire was likely to happen. Now, let’s go back. You explain economic hit men and who you were working for. When we fail, which doesn’t happen too often — but that’s what happened in Ecuador with Roldos and in Panama with Torrijos — then the jackals step in and either overthrow the governments or assassinate the leaders. If the jackals also fail — that’s what happened with Saddam Hussein in Iraq — then and only then does the military go in. Just before Raul Reyes was killed, the commander of FARC — Colombian military went into Ecuador and killed him and a number of other people — you received an email. What did it say, from Reyes? So, what Reyes was saying before he was assassinated was that they were trying to keep him from striking a peace deal. And the fact that Colombia sent these troops in illegally and killed twenty — more than twenty FARC representatives in Ecuador, I think, substantiates what Reyes was telling me. This is Raul Reyes, the slain FARC commander. He was speaking in 1996. The FARC commander who was just recently killed when Colombia raided Ecuador, got him, killed him, at a FARC camp. That interview was done by WBAI’s Mario Murillo. John Perkins? And these are countries, Amy, every one of them, that during most of my lifetime were run by brutal dictators who were US puppets. And now, all that’s changed in the last — less than ten years. And I think there’s tremendous hope there. I think this gives hope for all of us here in the United States, for people in Africa, in the Middle East, that diverse groups can come together and do what’s right democratically and peacefully. Do you think Chavez of Venezuela, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Correa of Ecuador have reason to fear, well, who you call the jackals? John Perkins, we have to leave it there, author of The Secret History of the American Empire. Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker ever so slightly barbed nickname for him was Li’l Bob As the National Security Council’s top staffer for the Caribbean and Latin America Li’l Bob was responsible for more than half of the Western Hemisphere—one entire continent not only abroad but also within the foreign-policy bureaucracy in Washington and one of President Carter’s top two in foreign policy full control of the Canal itself to Panama who conducted some of the final negotiations himself forged an odd-couple friendship with General Omar Torrijos Whenever Bob entered a room where Torrijos was present “Pas-TO-O-ORRRR!” (Heavy emphasis on the normally unstressed last syllable like a Telemundo sportscaster calling a soccer goal Followed by a great big abrazo.) The contrast between Torrijos’s ebullience and Bob’s calm reserve was a joke that they both enjoyed Bob set to work persuading senators to ratify them The forerunners of today’s Tea Party had mounted a tremendous campaign of demagogy They had jingoistic fervor on their side; all Carter and Pastor had was statesmanship In a debate he staged on his television show “Firing Line,” Buckley took the pro-treaties side against the most prominent advocate of the “We built it and we’re going to keep it” school of thought the Administration scored a breakthrough when John Wayne who trumped Reagan in the Hollywood macho-patriot sweepstakes I’ve always believed that Bob Pastor was behind the White House’s successful effort to persuade the Duke to go public it’s not a notion that I have any great desire to be disabused of.) On the morning of the Senate vote The treaties squeaked through because sixteen of the Senate’s thirty-eight Republicans voted aye Carter’s peacemaking never did him a lick of good politically The bounce he got for brokering the still solid peace treaty between Egypt and Israel faded quickly though not before saddling him with the lasting hostility of an influential portion of the domestic “pro-Israel” lobby As for the Panama Canal “giveaway,” it energized the American right while earning Carter scant points with the left Reagan used the issue to build the mailing lists and the organizing muscle that helped him to win the Republican nomination and beat Carter by getting the treaties completed and ratified Carter (and Pastor) spared the United States the bloodshed and bitter regional enmity that would have followed any attempt to “keep” the Panama Canal did nothing to revoke or to alter the treaties No more was heard of the economic and national-security horrors he had predicted as a candidate the Canal is busier and in better shape than ever Pastor was also instrumental in carrying out Carter’s human-rights policy in Central and South America setting in motion changes that helped produce a decades-long lurch away from military dictatorship and toward democracy in the region putting young Bob Pastor in charge of everything south of the Rio Grande had been a daring move It turned out to be one of the best decisions he ever made Bob Pastor would never work in government again President Clinton nominated him to be the Ambassador to Panama The Senate Foreign Relations Committee backed the nomination in one of the many disgraceful acts of his disgraceful career preventing it from going forward to the full Senate The ambassadorship would have been an honor But having earned the hatred of Jesse Helms was Bob compiled a record of public accomplishment that was at least as impressive as that of his White House service first at Atlanta’s Emory University and then at American University he worked with the Carter Center to promote democracy and reconciliation and executive officer on dozens of missions around the world He organized the Council of Freely Elected Heads of Government—a singular pressure group consisting of Carter and thirty-one other former and current Presidents and Prime Ministers of North and South American countries He and Carter monitored elections in some thirty countries deterring fraud and exposing it when deterrence failed co-chaired the Commission on Federal Election Reform they made Bob the commission’s executive director He was a supporter of electoral experiments such as instant runoff voting and the popular election of the U.S an enthusiasm that did nothing to lessen my enthusiasm for him Carter delivered the first Robert and Margaret Pastor Lecture in International Affairs The grassy college quad was filled with folding chairs occupied by a full complement of students facing a temporary stage normally used for commencement ceremonies about the occasion: just twelve days earlier Bob had undergone a harrowing operation to remove a tumor on his brain The scar atop his head looked like the laces on a football Carter himself wheeled him to the microphone holding down the pages of his text against the breeze a diplomatic initiative involving Russia and Iran deserves much more attention than it has received.” This was by no means the conventional Washington wisdom of the moment but subsequent developments have largely borne out Bob’s analysis Bob had some excellent gossip to impart that afternoon was not without an agreeable touch of gleeful malice Pastor on “Newshour,” in1994. Credit: PBS. which also sparked widespread unrest in the Central American nation.Reporting by Valentine Hilaire and Elida Moreno; Editing by Christian Plumb and Sandra Maler Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved A Riverside High School cheerleader was arrested after allegedly claiming that a burglar had stolen her cheerleader uniforms from her home El Paso police investigators arrested Gina Nicole Torrijos on Friday on a charge of making a false police report after allegedly claiming that her cheerleader uniforms had been stolen during a home burglary April 15 police responded to a burglary call by Torrijos who claimed that someone had stolen two Riverside High School cheerleader uniforms from the bedroom dresser at her home in the 1700 block of Shawana Laurie Court near Montwood Drive in the far East Side according to a complaint affidavit filed by police Riverside High is in the Ysleta Independent School District Torrijos allegedly told police that she received several text messages from an anonymous number stating that her uniforms had been taken Most wanted for the week of May 8 Police investigate homicide in East El Paso Torrijos also allegedly told officers that "someone" had been in her backyard trying to remove the screen to her bedroom window when she received the texts and that the prowler was chased off by her boyfriend Pebble Hills Tactical Unit investigators spoke with several neighbors who all said that they did not see or hear anything unusual the Riverside cheer coach told an investigator that Torrijos had returned one of the uniforms to the school on April 15 after the alleged burglary Torrijos allegedly told police that she had lied about the burglary and provided a written confession that "stated that she made up the story of the Burglary of Habitation to cover the fact that she wanted to avoid turning in her cheer uniforms to the school," the complaint states The complaint states that Torrijos told police that she still had the missing uniform but later recanted and said that she could not find the uniform Police investigate death of man found on sidewalk Two arrested in death of man found stabbed in car Torrijos was arrested on suspicion of making a false report to a peace officer which is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine She was released from jail on a $5,000 bond on Friday Daniel Borunda may be reached at 546-6102; dborunda@elpasotimes.com; @BorundaDaniel on Twitter In 1892, James Corbett knocked out John L. Sullivan in the 21st round of a prizefight at New Orleans the first major fight under the Marquess of Queensberry Rules the Boxer Rebellion in China ended with the Boxer Protocol a peace agreement between China and other world powers In 1926, Hollywood studios closed for the day in honor of the funeral of Rudolph Valentino, the silent movie superstar who had died after ulcer surgery In 1940, Nazi Germany launched the London blitz, bombings that Adolf Hitler believed would soften Britain for invasion In 1943, a fire swept through the Gulf Hotel in Houston, killing 55 men In 1986, Desmond Tutu was installed as the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town becoming first black titular head of South Africa's fourth-largest Christian church In 1992, 12 people were killed when a twin-engine plane carrying skydivers crashed in a soybean field in Hinckley In 1996, rapper Tupac Shakur was hospitalized after being shot four times in Las Vegas In 2006, longtime British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced he would resign within one year the British government convicted three men of plotting to blow up seven trans-Atlantic flights smuggling explosives aboard in soft drink bottles a plan that led to tighter airline regulations on carry-on bottles of liquid In 2011, a plane crash near the Russian city of Yaroslavl killed 44 people including almost the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Kontinental Hockey League team Several of the victims had ties to North America's National Hockey League A member of the aircraft's crew was the only survivor In 2013, Tokyo was chosen to host the 2020 Olympics In 2014, American tennis star Serena Williams won the U.S. Open for the third straight year, defeating Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 6-3. Volume 11 - 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.591923 and these two areas have converged in a new field denominated “Neuroeducation.” However the growing interest in the education–brain relationship does not match the proper use of research findings the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned of the misunderstandings about the brain among teachers The main objective here is to observe the prevalence of the neuromyths in educators over time After two decades of publications of research on neuromyths among in-service or prospective teachers this work presents a systematic scientific review we used the words: “teachers,” “preservice teachers,” “neuromyths” combined with the Boolean data type “and.” The search was filtered according to the following criteria: (a) identifiable author (d) research with a participant's survey The documents were found through Web of Science 24 articles were identified as being of sufficiently high quality for this systematic review This result highlights that neuromyths are still the subject of attention almost two decades after their definition The findings present neuromyths as the consequence of a lack of scientific knowledge a communicative gap between scientists and teachers and the low-quality information sources consulted by teachers the data on protectors and predictors of neuromyths is inconsistent There is also no standard scientific methodology nor a guideline to determine a new neuromyth The results show the need to improve the scientific content in higher education and the importance of in-service teacher training This research justifies the requirement for university professors to be active researchers and to establish a close link with educators from other fields and levels Neuroeducation will be the bridge that unites scientific knowledge and practical application in education standard method for the entire scientific-educational community In 2002, the UK's OECD launched the Brain and Learning project (Howard-Jones, 2014), and Herculano-Houzel (2002) published the first survey about knowledge of the brain. She included 95 multiple-choice assertions, 83 related to the information that the general public has about brain research (Herculano-Houzel, 2002) and several neuromyths Research has provided evidence against neuromyths. As an example, neuroimaging research has demonstrated that both hemispheres are responsible for most of the procedures and are in constant communication, even though they differ in their functions (Ansari, 2008), which runs counter to myths such as left vs. right brain people, or multiple intelligences (Geake, 2008) and educators when implementing neuroeducation in the school A large selection of items is linked to the study of the neuromyths in the literature much more scientific information about neuromyths has become available given the significant and exponential advance of neuroeducation it is essential to collect as much data as possible under an updated scientific method assembling the knowledge available to the present day This study aims to present a systematic methodological review to assemble the primary data in neuromyths from a time perspective, from Dekker et al. (2012) to Tovazzi et al. (2020) it is crucial to sort the data chronologically It was our aim to lay out a timeline with the prevalence of neuromyths in recent years has systematically reviewed the neuromyth literature this paper addresses neuromyths among educators as a research topic from 2012 to 2020 Neuromyths have been previously assessed only to a limited extent Although studies have been conducted by many authors additional analyses to explore the neuromyths recently described are required This manuscript contains a systematic review that is novel in terms of the methodological approach adopted and the number of items analyzed No study to date has considered the literature on neuromyths under a rigorous review and neither is there previous research describing all the neuromyths addressed in surveys among educators This manuscript contains a systematic review never previously conducted No other scientific research has listed the literature on neuromyths under a rigorous review the articles about these neuromyths disseminated among in service or preservice teachers Two colleagues replicated the search protocol outside this research at the end of June 2020 An exhaustive and systematic search was conducted to collect all the documents related to the topic of interest We established four steps with an increasing degree of depth to draw up the search strategy we set the stage to refine the search and make it tighter in every run the most accurate and representative articles in the field of concern the search strategy was implemented using these four words or groups of words in this order: (1) Neuromyths; (2) Neuromyths and Education; (3) Neuromyths and Education and pre-service teachers; and (4) Neuromyths and Education and Teachers the search could be replicated introducing the terms above in the literature databases used (i.e. EBSCOhost and the selected databases therein we added seven different databases in the EBSCOhost and also explored Dialnet and Google Scholar To collect all the references and to detect the duplicates among the findings we harnessed a reference management software to compile and compare the recorded data EndNote® online version was selected For a better systematization of the process, the search strategy was implemented with the template Prisma Flow diagram (Moher et al., 2009), which gives a summary at a glance of the work behind the data collection (Figure 1) The initial search delivered 1,262 documents matching the criteria we explored 410 records under the inclusion criteria procedure to refine the documents according to the topic and the objectives of the current research Figure 1. Flow diagram based on Prisma, based on Moher et al. (2009) Figure 2 is a graphical representation of the search strategy A massive number of results were obtained since the search was only combined with one English Boolean data type (and) because there is no synonym for the word The figure shows the three steps through which the search strategy could be redone Stage 1 includes the word Neuromyth alone as search criterion Step 2 added the word education to the search through the Boolean operator AND Step 3 put together the first two keywords AND preservice teachers another branch forks out to give results for Step 4 composed of the first two terms (neuromyths and education) AND Teachers The eight* database screened in EBSCOhost are: MEDLINE; Education Source Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection; APA PsycINFO The initial screening ended with N = 410 scientific articles to be reviewed several inclusion criteria needed to be applied in the next stage of the procedure a decision tree was made to select the articles according to the main aim and the previous standards Figure 3 illustrates how the decision “no” gives the number of documents removed the article proved to be eligible to continue in the systematic review the inclusion items are intrinsically interesting for their capacity to reduce the number of documents to be kept in the analysis The most restrictive conditions that removed the greatest number of studies were “Neuromyth/s or myth/s appear in the title “The research includes a way to ask participants about neuromyth” left behind N = 98 records When the authors of the papers were unidentifiable (N = 19) The authors of the present study are able to read in Spanish but we were forced to delete any evidence written in a different language other than those specified The search strategy returned (N = 14) articles published in Japanese and a few Slavic languages which were impossible to translate properly for use in this scientific document a point to bear in mind is that we cannot be sure these 14 documents fit correctly into the present systematic review because they could also have been eliminated under the light of other eligibility criteria Documents with a sample other than teachers (in service the authors decided to apply one last restriction to the 58 remaining files we only took into account the academic studies indexed in any type of impact factor Journal Citation Report (JCR) or the ones that could report the average number of weighted citations received in a year articles in an Emerging Source Citation (ESCI) were included in the present review Inclusion and exclusion criteria: decision tree N = 31 articles of scientific research on the main topic were deemed suitable for an in-depth review to encourage an exhaustive reading attitude a new code was designed to preserve the quality of the study every one of the team members checked the 31 findings according to the closest participants We consider this the beginning of the studies in neuromyths among teachers a few studies were conducted before this one but here we can find the objectives and methodologies defined in the research question raised in this work Comparisons (C) are outside the interest of this publication the outcome (O) was closely related to the intervention (I) because we were dealing with a set of descriptive studies The mandatory outcome was to have an overall percentage of prevalence in neuromyths (or to provide the way to calculate it from the data shown) and preferably to have rates of prevalence for each neuromyth When neuromyths are not specified in a study, those described in the previous papers in this review (Dekker et al., 2012) have been considered neuromyths. Consequently, in Pei et al. (2015), 9 statements among all the 38 factual assertions coincided with those collected in the previous analyzed literature. Similarly, in Dündar and Gündüz (2016) 15 items were identified before as neuromyths according to the aforementioned PICO strategy parallelism To compile data from the concrete results under the criteria of this unique research, Table 1 shows the main findings included in the 24 articles analyzed The references are sorted by year of publication to obtain a panoramic view of the prevalence of neuromyths according to our main aim The information is organized around five primary columns The first on the left contains the principal author and year of publication of the research then appears the sample explored and its provenance when indicated Synthesis of the investigations about neuromyths The methodology is in the third place, divided into more three columns: the survey used to collect the sample responses; the list of neuromyths included (Table 2) in the article; and the type of answers available in the survey List of neuromyths appeared in analyzed articles As part of the outcome of this systematic review, the results give details about prevalence in neuromyths and general knowledge in the sample specified. The most and least prevalent neuromyths (Table 2) can easily be seen in the table For works where predictors or protectors against neuromyths were studied the last columns of the “Results” sections give the main findings the rightmost column briefly summarizes the primary conclusions accomplished through the research In the 24 articles explored, 39 neuromyths were surveyed in different samples. However, 23 of them appear only once. These are listed from neuromyth 19 onward (Figure 4) The three most commonly occurring neuromyths in the surveys examined are “Individuals learn better when they receive information in their preferred learning style (e.g. kinaesthetic).” “Short bouts of co-ordination exercises can improve integration of left and right hemispheric brain function” and the myth that claims “We only use the 10% of our brain.” Frequency of appearance of each neuromyth in the 24 articles The sample scanned can be classified into five groups among the 24 papers explored. Thus, 54.17% (N = 13) of the documents have surveyed in-service teachers. Furthermore, as active workers, are 8.33% (N = 2) are unspecific educators. Coaches (N = 1) and head teachers (N = 1) account for 4.17% each. The remaining 29.17% (N = 7) of articles are dedicated to the preservice teachers (Figure 5) Finally, the findings have been presented to inform of the percentage of prevalence in neuromyths and the scores in general knowledge about the brain (GKAB), when known, across the 8 years that the current study covers (Figure 6) Prevalence of neuromyths and scores in GKAB from 2012 to 2020 The sample includes future and current teachers and unspecific educators also being in the analysis the total sample was N = 13,767 people involved in education surveyed in almost 20 different countries across the world the present findings allow us to recognize the most and least widely believed neuromyths The main reason to systematize the process was also to find an evolution of the neuromyths through the years are recognized as factual assertions by the abovementioned authors This is important to correctly interpret the results since this can compromise the scientific findings in previous and future research it was not possible to investigate the source of this diversity of results due to the heterogeneity of the methodologies and materials represented in the articles analyzed this apparent lack of correlation can justify the need for new scientific protocols in the field of neuroeducation This suffers the same limitations associated with the method and materials used The absence of a corpus of specific literature in each type of sample analyzed here is a potential limitation in the search for protectors or predictors for the neuromyths apomediation has arguably reached the educational field Taking an in-depth look into recent years of research in neuromyths we can affirm they exist and persist among students We would have like to find a decreasing number of publications about the prevalence of the misconceptions related to brain into the education systems The distance between neuroscience and education is still too great We have found reasons for the lack of knowledge among educators about science and the brain they have difficulties in accessing to the latest findings due to the absence of scientific literature in their mother tongue or the weakness of science communication specific protocols for research and systematic reviews in education or neuroeducation as an independent field of knowledge will act as a tool to reveal the importance of these kinds of approaches The prospect of being able to use standard measures to compare data properly could prove an important area for future research The scientific curricula for undergraduate and postgraduate students should be revised and updated Neuroscience has to find the language and the space to provide continuous investigation where teachers should be the leading players teachers and students prefer to search by themselves for information data about the sources that students use to get information would be more than welcome we could avoid the phenomenon of apomediation in education finding appropriate expert mediators who seem trustworthy to enhance the practice of professional future teachers Research into solving this problem is already underway we intend to explore the current academic curricula for trainee teachers in different countries The design and development of neuroeducation for university studies will be a challenge Research has to move into the classroom at every level it is essential to count on university teachers who are active researchers more fluid relation with the ongoing science findings the bridge will be made by a firm and close engagement between schools and universities Fresh data under a standard method is needed which gives researchers the possibility to compare to advance in the knowledge to fight against the misconceptions among educators and into the education itself The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Materials further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author/s All authors were involved in the design of the systematic review and in the process of evaluating the after read excluded articles AB-O was in charge of the eligibility criteria selection MT-M was responsible for the summarizing process and the elaboration of tables and figures the three authors wrote the article and carried out the systematic search This work was partially supported by the University of Castilla-La Mancha The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest The authors appreciate the reviewers' valuable and profound comments that have contributed to greatly improving this manuscript for replicating the search strategy as independent professionals We are grateful to the authors that have promoted to the research in neuromyths We thank them for the time and the effort they have dedicated to bolstering the fight against pseudoscience Basso for their kindly reply to our requests; 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