anti imperialist mobilization and meat, the people are hungry! A government that represses the students is a government that will fall! Sovereignty or death! Chile, Panama, Argentina -Yankees out of Latin America! The immediate reason for the demonstration were the the aggressive and belligerent statements of various U.S. officials, Henry Kissinger included, about American determination to continue the military occupation of the canal zone indefinitely. The U.S. "lease" on the canal zone is due to run out and is now being renegotiated. The "joint-defense" denounced by the demonstrators is a reference to a U.S. proposal aimed at keeping the estimated 10,000 U.S, froops in the canal zone under the pretext that Panama will be allowed some say in the disposition of those forces. American imperialism's real intentions, however, were revealed by Kissinger's statement in early September that "the United States reserves. the right to defend (sic.) the Panama Canal unilaterally for a long period. " General D.P. McAuliffe, commander of U.S. troops in the canal zone, pledged to take "all necessary military measures" if negotiations break down and violence erupts. The September 23 demonstration was an initial response to such declarations. On the evening after the demonstration, the students put out a communiqué saying that Washington had proven that it has no intention of even seriously negotiating the status of the canal, much less agreeing to meet the demands of the people for total sovereignty over the canal. They said that the Torrijos government had to decide whether it would stand on the side of the people or on the side of Ford and Kissinger,