Knives & Bases

The students had won a round. At least in its present session, Panama's National Assembly would not approve the treaty, signed last fortnight (TIME, Dec. 22), giving the U.S. 14 air bases on Panamanian territory.

The police were partly to blame. When they clubbed students (and were themselves clubbed) in breaking up an anti-bases demonstration last fortnight, they unwittingly gave the agitators a big boost. Thereafter, calm discussion of the bases deal was impossible. Politicos, their eyes on next May's presidential election, began to play it safe. Last week, after 10,000 people paraded outside the National Assembly, a special committee brought out reservations designed to sidetrack the agreement.

Only President Enrique Jimenez dared defend the treaty, insisting that most of its opponents "have not even taken the trouble of reading it." The students and their professors, egged on by the Communist-tinged People's Party, stayed away from their classes and planned new demonstrations. Said realistic Assembly President Harmodio Arosemena: "Nobody will vote for the bases when they can look out the window and see 10,000 boys sharpening their knives."

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