As you have learned from all of the groovy stuff that happened to us as a country in November 1903, you’ll be quick to notice how intricate our ties are with the United States. Now, our feelings about their place in our history are partisan at best; depending on what sector of the Panamanian spectrum you ask, there will always be varying opinions. Some are greatful, while others are resentful. What can’t be denied though is how much of a moral ambigüity we’ve fallen into as a result of the revolving door of cultures that is our population… before I give you the history lesson I’d like to get into this a little so you have a greater sense of how astonishing the events of January 9th, 1964 are in the grand scheme of things.

Every January 9th Panama mourns for the loss of 22 Panamanians, victims of the conflict between patriotic citizens of the state and Panama Canal Zone authority in 1964. Due to this fateful day, one that marked a new course for Panamanian history forever and the catalyst for the treaty that would give us the Panama Canal, the population’s resentment towards Americans was that much greater than it was before. The thing is that this resentment tastes like ass water in the sense that presently we’re the most Americanized country in the continent… we’ve become a Spanish-speaking U.S in the same manner that Miami is an English-speaking Havana, and even though there are always tributes to both this date and December 20th on our country’s government-funded channel (that would be channel 11 for those of you not in the know) this sense of patriotism can’t help but feel somewhat false to me. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a totally Americanized Panamanian and I’ll tell you right now that if you call yourself patriotic by being one of those who yell “gringos go home!” every chance they get while at the same time you stuff your face with super-sized McDonald’s combos as you watch the latest episode of “Grey’s Anatomy,” you’re somewhat of a hypocrite. My perception of extreme patriotism is someone like Steve Rogers… he’d do anything for his country and that part we have it down pat, but it’s the other stuff that we seem to be ignoring when it comes down to pointing fingers an accusing others of treason; I don’t think Captain America would ever buy Chinese products, since for all intents and purposes China is governed by a communist regime and is an enemy to the United States (let’s not kid ourselves). The point I’m trying to get to here is that if you’re going to call yourself a patriot you better go all the way with it… but no. We Panamanians tend to find the convenience in everything and as a result we’ve become the booming pinnacle of commerce everyone’s labelling us as being… we’re booming because, whether we like it or not, any foreigner can come into our country and make a better life for himself if he plays his cards right, us Panamanians taking advantage of it as much as we can. But hey, whaddaya know! Most of these new jobs require you to speak English. Oh dang, what now? That sense of patriotism that won’t allow you to learn English because, according to you and your resentful doctrine, English is the Devil’s tongue and you don’t need to learn it. Well, guess what you jackass? You do. Now go tend the phones!

This goes both ways, though. the United States can most easily be labelled as the most despised country in the world, and in many respects this goes with good reason. The U.S is a bully that has taken advantage of its world power status for centuries so that they can push their personal agenda, no matter how many people they run over in the process. That Gung-Ho way of doing things can make Americans very dumb in regards to how they approach situations, and when you combine it with their daft arrogance then you’ve got yourself a recipe for disaster. Take the sequel to the Iraq War, the one that shows on your TV screen every night, for example: The U.S is imposing their oh-so-infallible democratic system, style and customs into a country that’s only known dictatorship for the past 2 or 3 generations. The people in the Middle East have their own ways to do things and even though I’m sure someone in the Iraqui populace must be happy that Saddam was captured and hanged, I believe they don’t find the idea of seeing McDonald’s and Starbucks stores littered throughout Baghdad one they’re comfortable with. So, what’s a person to do when a bully pushes you around to do their bidding? Well, eventually you pick up your balls and fight back. Hell, I don’t even blame the American people because, just like any other country, you’ll have people that will believe in their president elect and there’ll be people who don’t. Blame the leader. George W. Bush is, to my perception, the embodiment of American diplomacy and attitude: a moronic bully with childlike tendencies far worse than the ones my and subsequent generations carry under their sleeves. What’s the result of this cockyness and blind belief that the U.S is right and everyone else is wrong? Well, you get a losing, pointless “war.” The whole thing is a joke that’s killing kids who don’t know any better on a daily basis.

Panamanians and Americans are both to blame for their ultimate fates.

When John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States he saw the Panama Canal Zone situation and the resentment the Panamanian populace had in regards of how some silly superpower came into their country and segregated the living hell out of them. In what would be accurately regarded as a “Berlin Wall,” there was a huge fence that separated the Canal Zone from the rest of Panama City with the pretext that it belonged to the Canal area. Well, fuck me gently. As a result to the shitty mood Panamanians would get whenever they saw that fence and, most importantly, how Panama wouldn’t be recognized as the country the citizens on the other side of the fence were stepping on (add to that how seeing just the American flag would kind of make Panamanians think that the gringos thought it was American soil, which was a big mistake), JFK wisely decided that he would put a Panamanian flag to wave next to the American flags that were put in schools and other buildings of importance. People were happy… a compromise was reached. But then tragedy struck and JFK was killed without his orders having been carried out; a month after his death the Canal Zone governor made a decision that would prove a different type of compromise… now, it’s important to note that the Panama Canal Zone was nothing short of a separate state from Panama, with its own schools, post offices, stores, laws and government body. Anyway, the compromise would be that no flags would be raised and that way everyone would be happy. Right? Right?

Soon enough, Zonians started reacting to the decree just like the Panamanians were about their own flag on the other side of the fence… thing is that it was easier for them to do something about the flag situation since Zonians could physically approach flagpoles, and that’s exactly what they did. The most notable case is the one that happened at Balboa High School when, seeing the lack of the American flag as the country’s renouncement of sovereignity over the Canal Zone, a group of students proceeded to raise their own flag. It was taken down shortly thereafter by school authorities but the students insisted by getting out from class and putting their flag up again. This got to the ears of students in the Instituto Nacional, one of Panama’s longstanding public schools. As both you and Lyndon Johnson would assess, things would just get uglier from then on:

Led by 17-year-old Guillermo Guevara Paz, 150 to 200 students from the institute marched to Balboa High School, carrying their school’s Panamanian flag and a sign proclaiming their country’s sovereignty over the Canal Zone. They had first informed their school principal and the Canal Zone authorities of their plans before setting out on their march. Their intention was to raise the Panamanian flag on the Balboa High School flagpole where the Americans had raised theirs. [2]

At Balboa High, the Panamanian students were met by Canal Zone police and a crowd of Zonian students and adults. After hurried negotiations between the Panamanian students and the police, a small group was allowed to approach the flagpole, while police kept the main group back.

A half-dozen Panamanian students, carrying their flag, approached the flagpole. The Zonians would have none of it. They surrounded the flagpole, sang the Star Spangled Banner, and rejected the deal between the police and the Panamanian students. Scuffling broke out. The Panamanians were driven back by the Zonian civilians and police. In the course of the scuffle, Panama’s flag was torn.

Uh oh. News of the torn-up flag leaked outside the fence and soon enough the riots started, thousands of people congregating along the fence with the intent to knock it over. If this wasn’t bad enough, the Canal Zone governor had left the country earlier that morning so you just know the shit would hit the fan. Panamanians, armed with rocks and flags, stormed the fence and threw their prehistoric ammo to the Canal Zone guard standing nearby… so, what’s a soldier to do, but to fire back? From this point onward details are sketchy and each side has its own story. Many Panamanians were killed during the riots; the U.S says that those folks who were gunned down were either rioters of shot by other Panamanians. Nigga, please; we can barely afford bullets, let alone firearms. Why do you think we still riot using stones and sticks?! The one case that really pisses me off though is the one of 18-month old victim Maritza Alabarca, who was killed by the fumes of a tear gas shot that broke into her room. Funny thing is that, according to American law, the tear gas that was used for the riots was by definition non-lethal, so officially the U.S Army did not kill Miss Alabarca. Do you see how much a quagmire of filth this whole thing is? Ugh. Just like the little girl there are many other cases the U.S government will not fess up to, and a lot of resentment comes from it. Well, Panamanians’ resentment for the States is because of many other things as well, but this one is very important because of the genuine sense of patriotism these kids displayed for the sake of their country’s ideals. Due to the events of January 9th our president at the time cut all diplomatic ties with the U.S and, seeing as to how they are fucked without us, they decided to sit down and negotiate… almost a decade later, the Torrijos Carter treaty was signed and with that the Panama Canal would pass to Panamanian hands on December 31st, 1999.

International reaction was unfavorable to the United States. The British and French, who had been criticized by US administrations for their colonial policies, pointed to the hypocrisy of a power whose Zonian citizens were as obnoxious as any other group of colonial settlers. Egypt’s Nasser suggested that Panama nationalize the Panama Canal as they had nationalized the Suez Canal. Not surprisingly, the People’s Republic of China, the Soviet Union and Cuba denounced the U.S. in strident terms. From the other end of the ideological spectrum, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco’s right-wing Falangist Party joined in accusing the United States of aggression against Panama.

Significantly, other governments in the western hemisphere which had long backed US policies declined to back the American position. Venezuela led a chorus of Latin American criticism of the United States. The Organization of American States, on Brazil’s motion, took jurisdiction over the dispute from the United Nations Security Council. The OAS in turn put the matter before its Inter-American Peace Committee. The committee held a week-long investigation in Panama which was greeted by a unanimous 15-minute Panamanian work stoppage to demonstrate Panama’s united opinion. No action was taken on Panama’s motion to brand the United States guilty of aggression, but the committee did accuse the Americans of using unnecessary force.

The President of Panama at the time, Roberto Chiari, broke up diplomatic relations with the United States on January 10. On January 15, President Chiari declared that Panama would not re-establish diplomatic ties with the U.S. until it agreed to open negotiations on a new treaty. The first steps in that direction were taken shortly thereafter on April 3, 1964 when both countries agreed to an immediate resumption of diplomatic relations and the United States agreed to adopt procedures for the “elimination of the causes of conflict between the two countries”. A few weeks later, Robert B. Anderson, President Lyndon Johnson’s special representative, flew to Panama to pave the way for future talks. For these actions President Chiari is regarded as “the president of dignity”.

This incident is considered to be the catalyst for the eventual U.S. abolition of the “in perpetuity” control of the Canal Zone, with the 1977 signing of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, which dissolved the Canal Zone in 1979, set a timetable for the closing of U.S. Armed Forces Bases and transferred full control of the Panama Canal to the Panamanian Government on 12:00 p.m. of December 31, 1999.

Like most of our run-ins with the United States, nothing will documented in a definitive matter but if there’s something that American flicks have taught me, it’s that whenever the facts are sketchy at best and the U.S is involved, it’s most probably because they fucked up. Make your own conclusions. Fact stands though that many young Panamanians gave their lives for a patriotic ideal, and that’s something you don’t see very often around these parts. For further reading, I recommend Wikipedia’s thorough entry on the important day as well as this Panama News article written by Eric Jackson, one with the kind of insight I would never be able to provide. In this page from Maestra Vida you will find news clippings, pictures and further analysis that you’ll find very interesting as well.

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