politicians might say and the editor of the section and he will talk about we get these big pieces that are 3,000 words, we ran one from a guy who used to work for black rock and used to -- knows a lot about esg but he is becoming skeptical and wrote a big piece walking i know there better than anyone and this is why it is not working and not effective. and that is the kind of piece who else is going to run that, 3,000 word piece. you can't fit that -- the warm can't fit that in there. they have within main street public indication "new york times" will never touch that. so that is the advantage we have in terms of spots to run things of all different lengths and

arguments from different perspectives but all united around the idea about the importance of free markets and standing firm on this. thank you so much for your time. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025] >> joining us to discuss the history of the panama candle is university of north texas political science professor orlando perez. >> thank you for having me. >> we will start with just the basics. we have been hearing a lot about the pan malcandle.

remind our -- panama candle. remind us what it is and why it was or not important to the u.s. >> the panama canal is one of the most important interoceanic water way he's in the world. about 5% of global cargo commerce passes through the canal on a yearly basis, but for the united states it is over 40% of our container shipment passes through the canal. and about 70% of canal traffic is from the united states. we are the leading users of the canal. particularly, it is particularly important for trade between the eastern seaboard ports and the west. it cuts down about 7,000 miles

of shipping distance when you traverse the canal to go from the east coast to the west coast. in terms of shipping an global commerce, the canal is a very important and perhaps the most important interoceanic waterway. we have to go back in history to understand the importance of the canal to the world and to the united states. the idea of an interoceanic canal from panama dates back to the 16th century of the spanish empire. the spaniards will visions of building a canal.

it was technologically impossible then so they built a system whereby their gold hidden galyons from south america would port in the pacific side of the isthmus and transport that gold via land and initially via mule laden cargo to the atlantic side of the isthmus. it is about a 51 mile distance from the pacific at the shortest point from the pacific to the atlantic. then would transport, would transfer that cargo mostly gold and silver on to gallon i don't

understand an transfer them first it cuba and then to spain. so the isthmus of panama and geographic location has been a key component of global trade for hundreds of years. in the 1850's, the gold rush in california led the united states to begin to get an interest in the canal route. initially, panama at that point was part of colombia. the united states worked out a deal with colombia at the time in the 1850's and 1860's to

build a canal that connected panama city with colon. that was railroad was instrumental in transporting people and transporting cargo from the pacific to -- from the west coast to the east coast of the united states and vice versa. in the hit -- in the hit 19th century, 1870's, 1880's, the french were involved in an attempt to build a canal through the isthmus of panama. that effort failed because of disease, because of corruption, because of technology and because of the way the french wanted to build the canal. they wanted to duplicate their

success in egypt in the suez canal, which is a sea level canal. and that type of canal is not possible on thes must of panama -- on the isthmus of panama because of geography and continental divide. so disease, inefficiency and wrong planning and corruption led it the failure of the tefrplg effort. -- french effort. at the end of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th century, after the spanish american war, the success of the united states in the spanish american war, led the united states to then enter the process of trying to negotiate the rights to build a canal. there was for teddy roosevelt,

the canal became a very portant part of his international policy. the united states had athe turn of the century become a page global power. the notion of a two-ocean navy, of having a two-ocean navy and traverse the distance between the atlantic and pack for military% were key, did military purposes were key. the united states was able to reach an agreement with colombia to build a canal. but the colombian senate failed to approve that treaty and it was at that point that the united states then aided in the independence of panama and subsequent to that and we can get into more details about that

process, subsequent to that signed the what is known as the treaty that gave the united states the rights to build and i want oceanic canal through panama. at that point in perpetuity. >> they had major role in construction of the canal amount then had control of the canal for several decades until a couple treaties were signed that neutrality treat and panama canal treaty. what did those treaties say and why were there two separate treaties signed? >> united states began the construction of the canal in 1904. it opened in 1914. as i said, the rights of the united states were guaranteed in

perpetuity in the so-called treaty of 1904. it is important to note that haye in the treaty is john haye the then second of straight and felipe was a frenchman had had worked on the french canal and had acquired the rights to the equipment of the french canal company in panama and had been assigned by panama as the negotiator of the treaty. so it is a treaty that no panamanians actually signed. that treaty, of course, generated a great deal of

consternation and opposition in panama to many of its provisions. panamanians for the rest of the 20th century had sought to change that treaty and to gain greater access to the canal. the treaty allowed the united states to colonel what became known as the canal zone a 10 mile wide 50 mile long stretch of panamanian territory to build the canal and the united states built a military and civilian infrastructure around the building, the administration, management an protection of the canal.

throughout the 2h century the panamanians had sought to change that treaty. by the 1960's the issue of national sovereignty over the canal was critical to panamanians. in 1964, early in january of 1964, there were a significant level of protests and violence in the canal zone. about 20 pan complains died from the protests and reaction to the protests. panamanians had sought to raise the panamanian flag over a section of the panama canal

zone, specifically by a high school in the canal zone. they were repressed by u.s. military personnel and police, and in the scuffle, again about 20 panamanians died, about four u.s. soldiers died, and that incident led to the start of serious negotiations to revise the canal canal treaty. to revise the treaty that gave the united states the rights to the canal zone in perpetuity. that really started with lyndon johnson and continued with richard nixon and gerald ford.

but, the problem was that there was significant opposition in the united states to giving back the canal. and, in panama in 1968 there was a military coup that brought to power a general. a military dictatorship. so, there was concern in the early 70's, really, that making a treaty, a deal for the revision of the treaty. >> we will leave this program but a reminder you can watch the entire program on c-span.org as we take you live to a discussion on current u.s. foreign policies hosted by the stimson center in washington, d.c.. you are watching live coverage on c-span3. >>