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 improved the chances of Senate ratification of the accords. Senator Dole called the statement "a step in the right direction" but added that he planned to introduce two Senate amendments to the treaties containing the language of the statement. Both Senators regarded the statement as a consequence of the October 11 meeting between President Carter and influential Senators who all expressed doubt that the treaties would be ratified in the absence of further
 clarification.
October 15 Senator Byrd announced that hie had been assured by
 Attorney General Bell that "there was no direct connection between General Torrijos and the narcotics trade" although his brother may
 have been involved.
October 19-Treaty negotiators Bunker and Linowitz assured the
 Senate Foreign Relati ons Com~mittee, in hearings, that the United States would have the "unlimited" right to keep the canal open after Panama takes over its administration in the year 2000. Committee Chairman Sparkman said later that the treaties probably would
 not go to the Senate floor before January 197.
October 19-In Panama, opponents of the canal accords and of the
 Torrijos regime, drew about 3000 people to a rally in Santa Ana Square, a traditional political meeting ground. Speakers denounced the treaties as "treason" and called on Panamanians to reject them. October 20-Various U.S. newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angreles Times and the Wasington Star, reported that a remarkably open debate on the treaties was preceding the plebiscite in Pananma. iReporters pointed out that for the first time during the Torrijos regime, the opposition was permitted, and even encouraged,
 to speak out on the treaties in the press, radio and television.
October 20 Secretary Vance, along with Ambassadors Bunker and
 Linowitz testified in f avor of the treaties before the House International iRelations Committee. Secretary Vance said, in ref erence to the upcoming Panamanian plebiscite, that "it would be foolhardy for me to speculate" on the outcome, but added that the best information available indicated that the treaties would receive support. October 20-General Torrijos appeared on Panamanian television and
 urged voters to approve the treaties at the polls.
October 21-The Washington Post reported that Panamanian government officials and some U.S. treaty supporters had expressed concern that the treaties might be rejected by the Panamanians because of nationalistic criticism- that the treaties give the United States too
 much.
October 23-Panamanian voters went to the polls to vote on the treaties
 in a nationwide plebiscite. Early returns showed voting in favor of the treaties by a margin of 2-to-i. With 90 percent of the ballots in the Panamanian plebiscite counted, the vote was 468,664 in favor of
 the treaties and 228,6 97 opposed.
October 25-According to a New York Times report, General Torrijos
 said in an interview that it would be "irresponsible" of the U.S. Senate not to approve the treaties, especially in view of the overwhelmingly favorable vote on them in the recent national plebiscite. "This is not just a problem of bilateral relations between the United States and Panama", he said, "it is a world issue affecting the passage of the