THE AMERICAS: The Other Canal

The Suez Canal crisis echoed in a surge of discontent from tiny Panama (pop. 900,000). Miffed at not being invited to the London conference on Suez, the government of President Ricardo Arias issued a defiant communiqué notifying the world that "this republic will not consider herself obliged to respect any of the decisions or recommendations adopted by the conference.'' Panama should have been invited, said the communiqué, because 1) the Panama Canal "is in some respects similar to the Suez Canal," and 2) a large merchant fleet flies the Panamanian flag.* On a visit to Cairo last week, Panama's...

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