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December 2006

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter visited on December 2006 the Miraflores locks of the Panama Canal accompanied by Panamanian President Martin Torrijos, the Panama Canal Authority Administrator/CEO Alberto Alemán Zubieta and many other invited guests.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter hands a copy of his book: "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" to the Panama Canal Authority Administrator/CEO Alberto Alemán Zubieta.

Commemoration Inscription on the Ancon Hill of the signing of the Panama Canal Torrijos-Carter Treaties,
back in September 7, 1977
 

From Wikpedia: After World War II, U.S. control of the canal and the Canal Zone surrounding it became contentious; relations between Panama and the United States became increasingly tense. Many Panamanians felt that the Canal Zone rightfully belonged to Panama; student protests were met by the fencing-in of the zone and an increased military presence there. Demands for the United States to hand over the canal to Panama increased after the Suez Crisis in 1956, when the US used financial and diplomatic pressure to force France and the UK to abandon their ownership of the Suez Canal. Unrest culminated in riots on Martyr's Day, January 9, 1964, when approximately 20 Panamanians and 3–5 U.S. soldiers were killed. A decade later, in 1974, negotiations toward a settlement began and resulted in the Torrijos-Carter Treaties. On September 7, 1977, the treaty was signed by President of the United States Jimmy Carter and Omar Torrijos, de facto leader of Panama. This mobilized the process of granting the Panamanians free control of the canal so long as Panama signed a treaty guaranteeing the permanent neutrality of the canal. The treaty led to full Panamanian control effective at noon on December 31, 1999, and the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) assumed command of the waterway. The Panama Canal remains one of the chief revenue sources for Panama.

View from the Ancon Hill towards the Miraflores and behind the Pedro Miguel Locks.

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