Page 300 - The Rough Guide to Panama (Travel Guide)

298 CONTEXTS History
aspect of life. The gold roll employees and their families enjoyed higher wages, superior
accommodation, better nutrition, health care and schooling; even toilets and drinking
fountains were set aside for the exclusive use of one group or the other. Unsurprisingly,
the mortality rate among black workers was four times higher than among whites.

The New Republic
Though their economy boomed during the Canal’s construction, it was soon apparent to
Panamanians that they had exchanged control by Bogotá for dominance by the US. The
government, largely controlled by a ruling oligarchy known as the “twenty families”, was
independent in name only; the US controlled everything – trade, communications, water
and security. Moreover, the de facto sovereignty and legal jurisdiction that the US enjoyed
within the Canal Zone made it a strip of US territory in which Panamanians were denied
the commercial and employment opportunities enjoyed by the US “Zonians”, a situation
that lasted well beyond the completion of the Canal. The US agreement to guarantee
Panamanian independence came at the price of intervention whenever the US considered
it necessary to “maintain order”, a right they exercised on several occasions.
One such action followed the Dule or Guna Revolution in 1925, an eventual result of
the Panamanian government refusing to recognize the relative autonomy granted by the
Colombian authorities in 1870 through the Comarca Tulenega. Pressure mounted when
outside groups were given concessions to plunder Guna resources and persistent attempts
made to suppress Guna culture. Following an armed revolt led by Sailas (chiefs) Nele
Kantule and Olokindibipilele (Simral Colman), which resulted in around twenty
fatalities on each side, the Guna declared independence. Forestalling government
retaliation, the US stepped in and mediated a peace agreement that granted the Guna
the semiautonomous status they still retain.
The Republic of Panama’s first president, the respected Conservative Manuel Amador
Guerrero, was actually from Colombia, but the first Panamanian president of real impact
was Belisario Porras, elected to office in 1912 for the first of three terms (1912–16,
1918–20 and 1920–24). A trained lawyer and prominent Liberal leader from the War of
a Thousand Days, he is largely credited for establishing the basic infrastructure necessary
for a newly independent state – roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, libraries, a legal
system, communication networks and even the cherished national lottery.

The rise of nationalism
Despite a new treaty limiting the US right of intervention in 1936, resentment of
American control became the dominant theme of Panamanian politics and the basis
of an emerging sense of national identity. Arnulfo Arias Madrid, a fascist and Nazi-
sympathizer – earning him the nickname “Führer Criollo” – exploited this while going
on to become one of the country’s most popular leaders. Of middle-class farming stock
from Coclé, and a Harvard graduate, he founded Acción Communal, the political
precursor to the Partido Nacional Revolucionario and present-day Partido Panameñista
(PP), which espoused his nationalistic and initially racist doctrine of Panameñismo. After
assisting his older brother Harmodio Arias Madrid to the presidency in 1932, he won
office himself in 1940, for the first of three periods (1940–41, 1949–51 and 1968).

1964 1968 1977
“Martyrs’ Day” flag riots Omar Torrijos, chief of the Torrijos secures a new canal treaty
leave 21 Panamanians National Guard, overthrows with US president Jimmy Carter,
dead and more than five President Arnulfo Arias and who agrees to transfer the Canal to
hundred injured. imposes a military dictatorship. Panamanian control in 1999.

290-319_Panama_3_Contexts.indd 298 30/06/17 11:52 am