Panama Says S

All Panama seemed to be in a holiday mood last week, and indeed the country was celebrating a festival of sorts. For the more than 700,000 Panamanians who voted in a plebiscite to ratify the new canal treaties with the U.S., it was the first chance to go to the polls on any national issue since General Omar Torrijos seized power in 1968 and outlawed political parties four months later. Torrijos had encouraged political debate on the treaties in order to counter suspicions in the U.S. that the plebiscite was rigged, and he got a bit more than he bargained for. Political dissidents took advantage of the relaxation in the atmosphere to mount criticisms of the regime that could have landed them in jail or in exile only a few months earlier. Nonetheless, what Panamanians had dubbed "the little summer of free expression" produced a clear-cut victory for Torrijos on the canal treaties. By Friday the final count was in: 506,805 si, 245,177 no, a 2-to-1 mandate.

The treaties now face a far tougher test in the U.S. Senate, where the victory must come by the same 2-to-1 margin. Conservative opposition has forced postponement of a vote on ratification until next year and left the White House worrying about whether, even then, it can muster the required 67 votes.

A recent Gallup poll indicated that the more Americans know about the treaties, the more likely they are to favor ratification. Hoping that grass-roots approval will be reflected in Washington, the Administration has sent Negotiators Ellsworth Bunker and Sol Linowitz on the road to drum up support for the treaties. The Panamanians have said si, but for the U.S. Senators it's still wait-and-see.

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