Panamanian Patriotism

I’m now officially a proud member of the 60^th group of Peace Corps volunteers to serve in Panama since the program began in 1963. We had our swearing in ceremony last week at the Canal Museum in the old part of Panama City. The US ambassador and a few Panamanian officials attended the short ceremony. We celebrated that night in Panama City and headed off for our two day beach vacation the next morning. Our group of about 30 people went to a playa two hours from the capital and enjoyed each others company for the last time in at least a month. We had a little Halloween party, swam in the ocean, and prepared ourselves for our upcoming solo adventures. Good times all around. I lost my flip flops.

So now here I am in my site and thoroughly enjoying myself. The celebrations of the dias patrios of Panama were this weekend, which is the equivalent of the 4^th of July in the states. In honor of the foundation of the Republic of Panama, November 3, 1903 I’d like to present a brief history of the country I now call home. The photo below is me shortly after marching with members of my cooperativa in the parade in my town.

Before Europeans came and discovered the new world the current territory of Panama was inhabited by various indigenous groups, some of whom still exist to this day. Exploration of the isthmus began in the early 1500’s principally by the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez De Balboa. He discovered the South Sea (the Pacific Ocean) in 1513 and claimed it as part of the Spanish empire. Panamanians refer to their currency which is the US dollar, as balboas because the conquistador’s image appears on coins minted here in Panama. Another famous explorer who figures into Panama’s history is Captain Henry Morgan, who most know for the spiced rum bearing his name. Captain Morgan was not a pirate but rather a “privateer” who waged war for England against the Spanish colonies in the Americas. Morgan made various forays onto the isthmus in the late 1600’s including the sacking of Panama City in which he massacred most of the population and burned the city to the ground. Panama however remained a Spanish colony for over 300 years until Simon Bolivar’s independence movements in South America began to make their way north. On November 10^th, 1821 El Grito de La Villa de Los Santos occurred leading to Panama’s separation from Spain. La villa de Los Santos is a town about half hour from my site and I’ll be traveling there for the celebrations of el grito this weekend. Following Panama’s official separation from Spain on November 28, 1821 the territory became part of Simon Bolivar’s newly founded Republic of Colombia.

Relations between Panama and the government in Colombia remained tenuous with various civil wars and separatist movements emerging over the years. In 1855 the United States completed the Panama Railway, the world’s first transcontinental railroad. The treaty that allowed the US to build the railway was the beginning of a complicated history of US political and military interventions in Panama. The railroad however was a vital link in bringing adventurers west during the gold rush years, and increased speculation about the idea of a canal. The French were the first to tackle the grand project led by Ferdinand de Lesseps, who had recently become famous for successfully completing the Suez Canal. France’s plan for a sea level canal was never realistic from an engineering point of view and was essentially doomed from the start in 1880. Tropical disease, financial problems, and constant floods were the primary causes for the failure of the French effort, which was finally suspended in 1896.

By 1899 the United States had established its own commission to investigate the possibility of building a canal through Central America. Initially the popular plan was for a Nicaraguan canal because although it is wider than Panama, it has a large natural lake in the middle of the country. After much deliberation Panama was chosen as the more feasible option and the US paid France $40 million dollars for the rights to the route they had begun, leftover machinery and detailed land surveys. The US now had to deal with the dicey task of obtaining rights from Columbia to build the canal. Having determined the Columbian asking price too high and not wanting to deal with the Columbians in general the US encouraged Panama to declare its independence. On November 3, 1903, with US Naval ships waiting offshore to deter any interference from Columbia, Panama officially declared its independence as a nation. In the controversial treaty that followed Panama granted the US the rights to build its canal as thanks for supporting its independence movement and a payment of $10 million dollars. The US began work on the canal in 1904 and the first ship passed through slightly ahead of schedule in 1914. The majority of the laborers used in both the French and American efforts were of Afro-Caribbean decent but a significant amount of Chinese, Italian, Irish, and of course Americans workers contributed to the success. The US triumphed where the French had failed because we’re better than them. Also helping our cause were major improvements in disease prevention, engineering technology, and infrastructure systems. In September of this year the Panama Canal Authority began a large scale, project to expand the canal by adding new sets off parallel locks to accommodate larger ships. The project is expected to be completed by 2014 and will cost an estimated $5 billion dollars.

According to the initial treaty that brought Panama its independence the US was granted control over the Canal Zone in perpetuity. The Canal Zone was ten miles wide on either side and ran the entire length of the canal. The US maintained a strong military presence in this area where the large majority of American soldiers, canal workers, businessmen and politicians lived with their families. In 1977 the Carter-Torrijos treaty set January 1, 2000 as the official date for the elimination of the Canal Zone and turnover of canal operations to Panama. Between the signing of the treaty and the actual handover the US did stage one military incursion into Panama in 1989. The controversial attack by US troops on parts of Panama City was allegedly in response to the killing of an American soldier and election fraud by then President General Manual Noriega. The military strike lasted only 7 days and resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of General Manual Noriega. There were also an estimated 500 Panamanian casualties, many citizens who were victims of fire in the poor neighborhood of El Chorillo. Since 2000, however the canal has been very successfully operated by the Autoridad de Canal de Panama and relations between the US and Panama are excellent. On a side note Manual Noriega recently completed his prison term in the United States and is expected to be extradited to France to serve trial there, although Panama also wants to try him for various crimes.

Well that just about brings things up to date. Currently Panama’s real estate market continues to boom, although many say a good amount of construction is funded by Columbian drug cartel money. Corruption is still rampant with a handful of established families controlling the majority of business and political decisions. But that’s another topic for another day. For more information on Panama please see the link to the Wikipedia article on the right hand column of this blog. Also please check out the Peace Corps Panama Friends link for information on supporting volunteer programs. Viva Panama!