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PANAMA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY - Coggle Diagram

- - - - In 1916, the Universal Exhibition was held to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the discovery of the South Sea in 1513. Several countries participated in it and six buildings were erected on the grounds of Hatillo. For this, the Exhibition Quarter was created.
        At the end of the event, the six buildings were occupied by the Asilo Bolívar, the Escuela Normal de Señoritas, the National Museum, the Ministry of Foreign Relations and the Embassies of Cuba and Spain.
        Also during his first administration, the Public Registry, the Civil Registry and the National Archive were created and the work of national codification began with the drafting of the Civil, Administrative, Criminal and Judicial Codes.
        
        Although the country was visibly progressing, in other respects it remained dependent, attached to past practices, immature and backward. We refer, on the one hand, to subordinate relations with the United States and, on the other, to the political practices inherited from Colombia. Let's first see what was the relationship with the United States.
- - - - During this period, some works undertaken in Porras' last term, such as the Model Prison, were inaugurated and the codification work continued, at the same time that a new elections law was voted.
        In June 1926, a Pan American Congress commemorating the Amphictyonic Congress convened by Bolívar in 1826 was held in Panama. In it, the creation of a Bolivarian University based in our country was proposed.
        
        Since 1903 the indigenous Cunas had become a real headache for the different national governments. A group of them did not accept the separation and went to Bogotá to request the government of Colombia that the Archipelago be annexed. But this mission was not well received and they were taken prisoner.
        In reality, the problem that most concerned the rulers at the beginning of the Republic was the fact that in the San Blas Archipelago, the Panamanian government only exercised nominal sovereignty. So, early on, Amador Guerrero tried to civilize the indigenous people, for which, as we have already pointed out, he sent Father Leonardo Gassó.
        
        Ten days later, during the carnivals of February 1925, a rebellion broke out in San Blas, led by Nele Kantule and Simral Colman. The indigenous people attacked the police barracks in Narganá, Playón Chico, Río Tigre, Tigantikí and other points, where a large part of the garrison and even some civilians were executed.
        The balance was 27 dead. The Chiari government immediately sought an understanding with the rebels. A contingent was sent and an Official Commission was appointed headed by the Secretary of Government and Justice Carlos L. López.
        On March 4, the government and indigenous representatives reached a peace agreement, under the watchful eye of John Glover South, Minister of the United States in Panama. The indigenous people were promised better treatment, respect for their customs and not to impose schooling on them. Although the Panamanian authorities required Marsh, he managed to flee protected by the North American Legation.
        
        At the end of that year, the Darien Vicariate was created under which the San Blas Intendancy was assigned. Given that the agreement was not fully complied with, in 1930 the government of Florencio Harmodio Arosemena issued the Indigenous Reserve Law. Also, in 1925, Chiari had to face another conflict, when the tenant strike occurred. The problem was long-standing, but it erupted around this time in the heat of difficult economic conditions and the spread of anarchist and left-wing ideas.
        
        The frightened government requested the landing of marines to control the situation.
        On the 12th, 600 marines landed in the terminal cities, raiding the League's offices and destroying its archives. The occupation lasted for a few days and there were new clashes with the tenants. According to the Supreme Court of Justice, the movement was aimed at overthrowing the government and establishing a revolutionary Bolshevik regime.
        Be that as it may, this state of affairs continued latent and, in April 1926, a Commission was appointed to prepare a tenant bill. But the problem was not solved and it resurfaced strongly in 1932 in the heat of the depression of the 1930s.
- - - - Likewise, the Savings Bank was created in order to stimulate saving among the population, at the same time that a law on retirement was enacted in 1935.
        The government had to contribute one amount while the employee another and would retire with 2/3 of his salary, provided that he testified that he had worked for the government for 20 years. But the plan was unsuccessful due to the lack of state resources.
        
        Thanks to the wise economic measures adopted, as well as the savings of the government, Panama managed to overcome the serious financial crisis and Harmodio Arias left a million dollars in the National Treasury at the end of his term.
        But undoubtedly two of the greatest achievements of the Arias administration were the founding of the University of Panama, in 1935, as well as the signing of the General Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, or Arias-Roosevelt, which was the first amendment to the ignominious pact of 1903 .
- - - - Chanis arrived with the intention of promoting national reconciliation and began by pardoning those implicated in the Easter plot. He also ordered the disintegration of the Warfoot, which was the shock troops of the Doctrinary Liberal Party. But his well-intentioned reconciliation plan would not be so easy to implement, especially given the serious economic crisis that afflicted the country.
        
        In November, the press began to denounce the excesses of the National Police Commanders, especially Colonels José Antonio Remón Cantera, Bolívar Vallarino and Saturnino Flores.
        The matter was aired within the National Assembly, where it was stated that certain economic groups monopolized some commercial activities such as the meat industry, the media in Panama City, canteens, casinos and brothels. To investigate the facts, the Assembly appointed a Commission that should, first of all, deal with the activities of the National Cooperative in the slaughterhouse.
        
        The commission was integrated, among other deputies, by Jorge Illueca and Carlos Iván Zúñiga who, in mid-November, carried out an inspection of the abattoir.
        The report submitted to President Chanis highlighted several irregularities such as the fact that the National Cooperative, whose shareholders included Comandante Remón and prominent members of the Doctrinary Liberal Party, supplied meat to the slaughterhouse to the detriment of other producers.
        The report also pointed out that meat in poor condition was distributed and sold for consumption by the population.
        
        On November 19, Chanis summoned Remón to the presidency to request his resignation on the pretext that the Police were very corrupt and it was urgent to reorganize it. Chanis let him know that if he did not resign, he would be arrested.
        The Commander did not yield and Chanis proceeded to dismiss him and appoint a new police leadership made up of Rogelio Fábrega, Oscar Ocaña and Manuel Palau, replacing Remón, Vallarino and Flores.
        But the second Commander Vallarino did not recognize the President's decision and ordered the police to surround the Presidential palace where Remón was being held. Chanis, then, released Remón to parley with his subordinates, under the watchful eye of some Ministers of State and other high authorities.
- - - - 4 factors that conspired against economic growth:
        1) the narrowness of the market was undoubtedly one of the most daunting aspects for economic development. But it was not only a question of the small number of inhabitants, but and above all, the low level of income of the population, derived from the inadequate distribution of wealth, as well as the existence of large sectors marginalized from the national market and the increased number unemployed or underemployed.
        2) Another factor that slowed economic growth was the scarcity of basic social capital, since means of transport were scarce and expensive, as were energy and irrigation works.
        3) The inadequate distribution of land and the inappropriate tenure regime. The 1950 agricultural census revealed that more than 1/3 of all agricultural holdings were located in areas of less than two hectares, while large estates existed.
        4) The debts of the State that by 1950 had grown to reach 30 million dollars. It was found that part of the debt contracted had served to pay at least 7% of total government expenditures.
        By then the great creditor of the State was the Social Security Fund.
- - - - The movement was led by Major Boris Martínez and Lieutenant Colonel Omar Torrijos Herrera, as well as other officers including Federico Boyd, Amado Sanjur, and Ramiro Silvera. In the official communiqué, the coup plotters indicated that the attempt to violate the popular will in the legislative elections, as well as the illegal integration of the Electoral Tribunal, had led them to adopt the decision to assume power through a provisional government that prepared the return. to the democratic order.
        
        The Provisional Government Board was chaired by Colonel José María Pinilla and also made up of Colonel Bolívar Urrutia. From then on, it began to govern by decrees, while citizens' rights were canceled.
        In the first statements, both from the Junta and the General Staff, they appeared before the face of the country as the restorers of republican morality and constitutional order.
        In a document called "Postulates of the revolution without dictatorship and freedom with order," the military spoke of the immediate and effective tidying up of the public administration, as well as the absolute repudiation of communism and any extreme ideology.
- - - - In the socio-political field, Commander Paredes raised the need to reform the Constitution in order to hold presidential elections in 1984.
        By then, he had already been preparing his presidential candidacy, for which he hoped to have the support of the National Guard. The constitutional reforms were carried out in 1983, as planned.
        Meanwhile, the so-called Torrijos Plan for succession in the military ranks had been agreed in the General Staff, which also included support for Paredes' candidacy.
        For this purpose, in August 1983, Paredes retired from the command and was replaced by Manuel Antonio Noriega.
- - - - According to George Bush, the military offensive against the Defense Forces of Panama was carried out “to protect the lives of North Americans, defend democracy in Panama, arrest Noriega and take him to stand trial on charges related to drug trafficking for which he was syndicated in 1988 and, finally, to ensure the integrity of the Panama Canal Treaties ”.
        Undoubtedly, to understand the scope of the US invasion it is necessary not to lose sight of the Santa Fe document from the beginning of 1989, in which it was stated that: “the expulsion of Noriega and the holding of elections will not be enough to establish a democratic regime in Panama.
        
        In order not to leave the country in the dark, at midnight on December 20, at the military base of Fort Clayton, Guillermo Endara and Ricardo Arias Calderón and Guillermo Ford took office as President and Vice Presidents, respectively.
        The following day, they were invested by the Legislative Assembly according to constitutional mandate. As expressed in the document "Statute of immediate return to the fullness of the Constitutional order" issued by the new government, the inauguration of a US military base "was inspired solely and exclusively, with the purpose that, in the face of the power vacuum that would arise as a sequel to the aforementioned military action, the Panamanian people did not lack, at this crucial time, of legitimate representatives who would immediately exercise their voice and defend their interests with courage and patriotism ”.
        
        President Guillermo Endara inherited a country in ruins, internationally isolated, with an extraordinary foreign debt, a very high unemployment rate, massive poverty, concentration of income in a few hands and occupied by the United States Army. His immediate tasks were to restore democracy, restore public order, and strengthen the economy.
        It should also obtain international recognition, achieve the demilitarization of the territory and ensure the evacuation of intervention troops from the country. In addition, he had promised to govern in the national interest and not in favor of a clique as had happened in the years of the military dictatorship, by virtue of which the task was titanic and it was necessary to undertake it decisively and without hesitation.
- - - - Furthermore, some of the neoliberal measures adopted by the government had catastrophic social effects. Hundreds of public employees were laid off, payment for the thirteenth month was suspended, there was an increase in unemployment and poverty in real figures; the cost of living rose, and corruption also prevailed in some government sectors.
        The government's inability to provide effective solutions to many of these problems was creating frustration and discontent among the population, while the situation was capitalized on by the PRD.
        
        Towards the end of the Endara mandate, the people were eager for change and demanded an energetic government that would provide solutions.
        Despite being a majority, the opposition did not achieve consensus to launch a single candidate and, on the contrary, split into four factions, when the singer Rubén Blades was nominated by his Papa Egoró party. The official candidate was the widow of three times President Arnulfo Arias, Mireya Moscoso for the Democratic Alliance; Rubén Darío Carles, the former powerful Comptroller, for Molirena, Eduardo Vallarino for Christian Democracy.
        Ernesto Pérez Balladares was nominated by the PRD, which adopted the slogan "the people to power" and was elected with 33% of the votes of the electorate. Both the Electoral Tribunal and the Endara government favored the realization of a clean and honest electoral tournament, as few have registered in our republican history.