Page 298 - The Rough Guide to Panama (Travel Guide)

296 CONTEXTS History
PEDRO PRESTÁN AND THE FIRE OF COLÓN
one of the uglier episodes in the factional feuding between Liberals and Conservatives occurred
in 1885, with the public hanging of Pedro Prestán. Prestán, a Liberal revolutionary, had taken
advantage of the absence of Colombian troops in Colón – they had headed over to Panama City
to quell an attempted coup – by seizing control of the city. After looting businesses to raise
money, he and his band of rebels purchased arms from the Us, which arrived on a steamship
anchored in the bay. When the ship agent refused to unload the arms, Prestán took the agent,
Us consul and several other Americans hostage, threatening to kill them if the Us naval vessel
stationed nearby landed troops and the arms were not handed over. though the weapons were
promised and the hostages released, the Americans reneged on the deal. Fleeing to Monkey Hill
outside the city, Prestán and his poorly armed combatants got caught up with the Colombian
troops now back from Panama City. the rebels were routed and the city caught fire; built of
wood, it was totally destroyed, killing eighteen and leaving thousands homeless. Prestán, who
had fled by boat to his native Cartagena, became the scapegoat. Many of his men were rounded
up and executed while Prestán himself was captured, tried and convicted by a partisan jury, and
left to hang above the railway tracks in Colón.

especially in the central rural areas under the leadership of Victoriano Lorenzo, a local
official of mixed heritage from Coclé and a champion of the indigenous population.
In 1901, a second Nicaraguan-backed Liberal force managed to take Colón and
effectively immobilize the railway, forcing the Colombian government to ask the US to
broker an armistice. The Liberals, fearing intervention by the US government, agreed
to the peace conditions but Lorenzo refused to accept the terms. In a sordid collusion
between both Conservative and Liberal social elites, Lorenzo was tricked into capture.
In disregard of the amnesty detailed in the accord, he was summarily tried and
executed by firing squad on May 15, 1903, in the Plaza de Armas (today’s Plaza de
Francia) of Panama City. Six months later Panama separated from Colombia.

Separation from Colombia
Despite the French canal debacle, the dream of an interoceanic waterway remained
as strong as ever. US President Theodore Roosevelt, in particular, felt that the
construction of a canal across Central America was an essential step to becoming a
major sea power. At first the favoured route was through Nicaragua, but the persuasive
lobbying of Philippe Bunau-Varilla, former acting director and major shareholder in the
French company, swung the Senate vote in Panama’s favour. His masterstroke was to
buy ninety Nicaraguan stamps that showed an erupting volcano – a major argument
against the Nicaragua route – and send one to each senator just three days before the
vote. In 1903 a treaty allowing the US to build the canal was negotiated with the
Colombian government, whose senate refused to ratify it, understandably wary that the
US would not respect their sovereignty. Outraged that “the Bogotá lot of jackrabbits
should be allowed to bar one of the future highways of civilization”, Roosevelt gave
unofficial backing to Panamanian secessionists.
In the event, the separation was a swift almost bloodless affair with only one casualty.
The small Colombian garrison in Panama City was bribed to switch sides and a second
force that had landed at Colón agreed to return to Colombia without a fight after its

1903 1914 1925
Backed by the US, Panama declares The Canal is completed. The successful Dule Revolution
separation from Colombia but Around 56,000 people from results in the Guna people
essentially hands the US control of 97 countries have a hand in its being promised a measure of
the future Canal Zone “in perpetuity”. construction. cultural autonomy.

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