This week is Fiestas Patrias in Panama. A time where we celebrate being handed off from one white domineering power (Colombia) to another (U.S.) The Republic of Panama was created by Wall Street interests. “In 1903, the administration of Theodore Roosevelt created the country

after bullying Colombia into handing over what was then the province of Panama. Roosevelt acted at the behest of various banking groups, among them JP Morgan & Co, which was appointed as the country’s ‘fiscal agent’ in charge of managing $10m in aid the US rushed down to” Panama.

The 1904 constitution, in Article 136, gave the U.S. the right to "intervene in any part of Panama, to reestablish public peace and constitutional order." Reflecting provisions of the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty, this confirmed Panama's status as a de facto protectorate of the U.S.”

“Article 136, along with other provisions of the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty, such as that giving the United States the right to add additional territory to the Canal Zone whenever it believed this was necessary for defensive purposes. The reason, of course, was to gain access to,

& control of, the canal across the isthmus that would open in 1914 to connect the world’s two oceans & the commerce that sailed them. The Panamanian elite had learned early that their future lay more lucratively in accommodating the far-off rich than in being part of S. America.”

This Demetrio Bid,
the first de-facto president of the Republic of Panama. He “was decisive in convening the municipal corporation in the evening of November 3, 1903 to back the separatist movement and proclaim the independence.”

All of the fanfare of his role in the separation of Panamá from Colombia but as always white pathology buries the lede. His dad, Federico Alberto Brid, was a lawyer in the Panama Railroad Company. & why did the U.S. want Panama to separate from Colombia? FOR CONTROL OF THE CANAL.

As you can see this white man’s interest aligned with that of his white North American cousins. Photo below are Panama’s “founding fathers.” Notice anything? The street that I live on is Manuel Espinosa Batista & everyone in this photo has streets &neighborhoods named after them.

And *surprise* these surnames still control the country.

“Furthermore, several of the leaders of the 1903 Panamanian Revolution, such as Senator José Augustín Arango and Dr. Manuel Amador Guerrero (the first President of Panama), had previous profitable dealings with the U.S. through the Panama Railroad Company.

Arango was a company lawyer & Amador was the company’s head physician. In light of their positive experiences with the U.S., it’s understandable why Panamanian ppl like Arango & Amador allied w/ the U.S. &believed a U.S.-owned/operated canal would, like the railroad, benefit them

This is Amador. Panama’s first president (Bid was *de-facto* president) Watch one of you goofies say he looks “racially ambiguous.”

Sources I gathered from to create the above thread, along with just being radicalized by my mom.

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/10/panama-canal-president-jp-morgan-tax-haven

https://ageofrevolutions.com/2016/03/24/balancing-independence-and-imperialism-the-panamanian-revolution-of-1903/amp/

Some depictions of Roosevelt’s Big Stick policy. Notice in the second photo, he is throwing dirt on Bogotá (Colombia) as that was the center of political affairs of Gran Colombia.

The Hay-Buneau-Varilla treaty was named after U.S. secy. of state John Hay & a Frenchman Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla, who was Panama’s 1st ambassador to the U.S. (even though he had not lived in Panama for 17 years prior). He drew this as Panama’s flag & drafted the constitution

Buneau arrived at the isthmus of Panama in 1884,and eventually became general manager or Ferdinand de Lesseps's Panama Canal Company. When the Panama Canal Company went bankrupt bc of corruption & incompetence (they surveyed the land during dry season when it rains most the year

in Panama. Mud is way harder to dig than dry land, not to mention “tropical” dangers like mosquitos (malaria/yellow fever) & wild animals. De Lesseps was over-confident after overseeing the Suez Canal which is in a WAY different climate than Panama LOL

Anyways in typical white male style when de Lesseps company went bankrupt in 1888, here comes the “New Panama Canal Company” in France. Bunau-Varilla purchased a large amount of stock & sailed back home. But then they abandoned the Panama Canal project & sold the land to the U.S.

That flag design was ass & was rejected but on the grounds it was made by a “foreigner.” Panamanians rejected a flag on those grounds but not the fact that the country is a POSSESSION of foreigner powers. Shit is so performative. Reject a flag yet readily accept U.S. overlords.

U.S. Pres. Grover Cleveland avoided the canal issue. With Roosevelt in 1901, canal planning resumed. In 1898 the Philippe Bunau-Varilla, hired William Nelson Cromwell to lobby the US Congress to build a canal across Panama, & not across Nicaragua.

Cromwell showed Nicaragua had an active volcano. On June 19, 1902, three days after senators received stamps showing volcanic activity in Nicaragua they voted for the Panama route for the canal via the 1902 Spooner Act. Cromwell got a $800,000 commission.($20mil USD today)

The First Spooner Act of 1902 enacted on June 28, 1902, & signed by Roosevelt the following day. It authorized purchasing the assets of a French syndicate called the Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama, provided that a treaty could be negotiated with the Republic of Colombia

That "French syndicate" was Bunau-Varilla's company. Again the funds were contingent on negotiating a treaty with Colombia to provide land for the canal in its territory of Panama. In 1903,Colombia signed the Hay–Herrán Treaty, ceding land in Panama to the U.S. for the canal.

*record scratch* but then the Senate of Colombia rejected ratification. LMAOOOO Now y'all know if there's anything the U.S. hates...it is being told NO. Well of course the U.S. wasn't about to accept that "No" of course. So...

Wait lemme backtrack for a sec. I said that Panamanians rejected the flag design but in reality they weren't *really* "Panamanians"-Panamanians as YET. Panama was classified as an isthmus department of Colombia. We were basically an extension of El Choco tbh. Darien territory