Verdict: The U.S. Was Not Guilty

In the wake of the Canal Zone riots last January, Panama accused the U.S. of violating the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This violation, Panama charged, was committed by the U.S. Army when it fired "on the defenseless Panamanian population" and denied Panamanians "the right of freedom of peaceful assembly and association." The Panamanian government asked the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists, an unofficial but highly respected group of international lawyers, to investigate the case.

Last week the I.C.J. made its report. Verdict: not guilty. The U.S. violated no one's "human rights." Indeed, the Panamanians themselves, whatever their legitimate grievances, were considerably to blame for the four days of violence in which 26 were killed, 400 injured.

Careful Preparation. A three-man committee--Professor A. D. Belinfante of Holland's Amsterdam University, Judge Gustaf Petren of Sweden, and Navroz Vakil, a Bombay attorney--spent 14 days in Panama last March and conducted 100 hours of hearings.

The committee found that the flag-raising march on Balboa High School by some 200 Panamanian students "appears to have been very carefully prepared and not a spontaneous movement," that Panama's President Roberto F. Chiari may well have known about it in advance and that, in any event, the Panamanian government did absolutely nothing to stop the subsequent rioting. For four days, from Jan. 9 to 13, said the committee, Panama's peace-keeping National Guard was curiously disarmed and "purposely kept away" from the trouble spots. Said the committee: "There was no evidence before us that any attempts were made by the authorities of the Panamanian Republic to assuage, calm or otherwise control the crowds."

Long, Hot Wait. As for the U.S., American students at Balboa acted badly, and Canal Zone police were less than gentle with the crowds in the early stages. Nevertheless, U.S. G.I.s withstood heavy gunfire along the border of Panama City for one hour before firing back, first with shotguns, then with rifles. In Cristobal, at the other end of the canal, U.S. troops were under fire for nearly two days before retaliating--with shotguns only. "By then, three U.S. soldiers had been killed and twelve had been wounded."

Concluded the committee: "The tempo and violence of the disturbances were such that there is little doubt that they held out a real threat to life and security, which could only be met by strong measures. In these circumstances, Zone authorities and U.S. military forces were entitled to use force."

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