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The Canal in Retrospect—Some Panamanian and Colombian Views
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Extract
The Panamanian Revolution of November 3, 1903, and the establishment of an independent republic under the aegis of the United States are well-known and often related events. Neither the scholar nor the polemicist has been guilty of neglecting this episode in history. The Revolution of 1903 was to Panamá, of course, the starting point of its history as a separate state; to Colombia, possession of the isthmus of Panamá seemed a sine qua non of national existence. Thus it is no surprise that writers in both countries should turn their attention to the circumstances of the separation of Panamá from Colombia. With the passage of over half a century we can assume that Panamanian and Colombian attitudes toward the Revolution, and the role of the United States in it, have undergone changes. It is hoped that by examining some of the books written by Panamanians and Colombians about their countries' histories in general, or the canal and isthmian politics in particular, the evolution of these changed, and still changing, attitudes will be illuminated.
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- Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1958
References
1 The best work is Miner, Dwight C., The Fight for the Panama Route: The Story of the Spooner Act and the Hay-Herran Treaty (New York: Columbia University Press, 1940);Google Scholar while hardly free from passion, the best work in Spanish remains Terán, Oscar, Del Tratado Herrán-Hay al Tratado Hay-Bunau-Varilla (2 vols.; Panamá: Imprenta de “ Motivos Colombianos,” 1934).Google Scholar
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3 Philippe Bunau-Varilla, a Frenchman and stockholder in the French New Panamá Canal Company, was made the representative of Panamá, in November, 1903, and quickly came to terms with Secretary of State John Hay. Some of these terms included the perpetual grant of a zone ten miles wide (excluding the cities of Panamá and Colón), and full control and police powers by the United States over the Isthmus in the zone area. In return Panamá received ten million dollars, plus (after a nine-year waiting period) and annuity of a quarter of a million. The New Canal Company also benefitted to the sum of forty million dollars for transferring its canal franchise, granted by the Colombian government, to the United States; Miner, , Fight for Panama Route, p. 377;Google Scholar the text of the treaty may be found in Diplomatic History of the Panama Canal: Correspondence relating to the negotiations and application of certain treaties on the subject of the construction of an interoceanic canal, and accompanying papers (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1914), pp. 295–303.
4 Ibid., p. 319.
5 Pereira, Octavio Méndez and Martínez, Cirillo J., Elementos de Instrucción Cívica (2nd. ed.; Panamá: Imprenta Esto y Aquello, 1916).Google Scholar Panamanians were urged to “ celebrar en cada escuela nuestras fiestas cívicas, especialmente el aniversario del nuestra emancipación en 1903, con actos públicos sencillos, instructivos y patrióticos ” (p. vii).
6 Ibid., p. 22.
7 The revolutionary junta that brought the Republic of Panama to life included Dr. Manuel Amador Guerrero, José Agustín Arango, Carlos C. Arosemena, Nicanor A. de Obarrio, Ricardo Arias, Federico Boyd, Tomas Arias, and Manuel Espinosa B. The coup was accomplished with but two fatalities—one human, and one animal (Miner, , Fight for Panama Route, pp. 337–339, 364).Google Scholar
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No vibró del cañon el grito fiero
al proclamar tu santa independencia,
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59 Ibid., pp. 209–210.
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61 Libro Azul:Documentos Diplomáticos Sobre el Canal y la Rebelión del Istmo de Panamá (Bogotá: Imprenta Nacional, 1904); The Story of Panama, Hearings on the Rainey Resolution, House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1913); I am indebted to Prof. Miner of Columbia University, who allowed me to use his personal copy of the Libro Azul.
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63 Ibid., I, 85–86.
64 “Historíase aquí, en efecto, un caso de expansión geográfica y política de los Estados Unidos anglosajones llevado a cabo dentro del patrimonio territorial de una nación hispano-americana comparativamente inerme y sin otra fuerza ni defensa que las del derecho; y ello por los medios mas ilícitos, inmorales y reprobados que puedan imaginarse. El cohecho, el engaño, la perfidia, la fé púnica, la instigación al prevaricato, a la traición, en una palabra, todas las formas posibles del maquiavelismo clásico quedaron allí ejemplarizadas y como palentalas bajo el rótulo de Yanquilandía.” (Ibid., I, 14.)
65 Ibid., I, 110.
66 As Terán sees it, the goals sought by both the ministers—a canal treaty with the United States and full Colombian sovereignty over the Isthmus—were mutually exclusive: “Desgraciadamente el Dr. José Vicente Concha, al partir de Bogotá … traía como objeto de su misión el mismo exactamente que un año antes había recibido el Dr. Martínez Silva. … El nuevo Ministro debía procurar a todo trance el triunfo de la ruta de Panamá, pero dentro de las facultades del Gobierno y sin menoscabo de la integridad territorial y de la soberanía nacional.” (Ibid., I, 111.)
67 Ibid., I, 163.
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