Treaties like the Bidlack-Mallarino Treaty were considered constitutional and legal, even though they involved US interference in matters of a sovereign country. Roosevelt's speeches made clear that the US decided to unilaterally break with the Bidlack-Mallarino treaty and, instead of solving the internal Panamanian problem as the treaty stipulated, helped Panama to separate from Colombia. Thus it enforced only that part of the treaty which was of interest to the US, namely, "it granted the US significant transit rights over the Panamanian isthmus".