I had intended to keep writing more posts, but general life business kept me away. Following the death of George Floyd back in May and the popular consciousness that rose in its wake, it feels inappropriate to continue this blog business as usual. Instead, I've been spending time reflecting on Peace Corps and its global mission, particularly in Latin America, and decided I would write a primer. The information we receive during pre-service training is woefully inadequate for volunteers to fully understand the role of the US played in the past and how it affects the present. As such, I've endeavored to create this primer which covers the basic history of Panama specifically and Latin America generally.
Now you might be thinking, "Oh great, how many posts before you disappear again?" The answer is 20+. You see, they're all written and ready to go. In fact, they're set to post weekly. "What? Weekly?" Yep.
Anyways...
Colonialism in Latin America
The period before Spanish colonization is referred to as the pre-Columbian era. The major civilizations in what would be Latin-America were the Aztec Empire, the Mayan Empire, and the Inca Empire. The primary culture of each of these empires still live on today as the Nahua, Maya and Quechua, respectively. The Aztec Empire was located in what is now central Mexico. Its capital, Tenochtitlan, is now Mexico City. The Mayan Empire was located within and around the Yucatan peninsula extending into present-day Guatemala. The Inca Empire meanwhile extended from the Andes to the Pacific within the present day countries of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. Throughout the rest of what would be Latin-America existed various tribes with their own cultures and languages, as was the case with pre-Columbian Panama. The Spanish Empire, aided by endemic diseases that ravaged the population, managed to conquer each of the major empires and colonized the near-entirety of what we know as Latin-America.
Spain's interests in Latin America were driven by the quest for gold and silver which were bountiful in the former Aztec and Inca empires. Panama was used as an overland route from which gold and silver could be transported from Spanish holdings in Peru. This made trade routes to, through, and out of Panama valuable targets for banditry and piracy. Panama City itself was sacked by the infamous privateer Captain Henry Morgan in 1671 and the remains of "Panamá Viejo" can be visited today.
As the Spanish pushed to increase their holdings in Panama, they found resistance such that the local indigenous people were referred to as "indios de guerra". The most successful of the resistance movements was led by an indigenous Ngäbe cacique (chief) known as Urracá who waged a decade-long resistance campaign against the Spanish as they advanced towards the present-day province of Veraguas. He died in 1531, but the circumstances of his death are unclear. Today he is revered among the Ngäbe people and is honored on the 1-cent balboa. No other resistance movement proved to be as successful and many indigenous people were forced to flee into the highlands where they remained secluded during the centuries that followed.
The encomienda system established by the Spanish would make virtual slaves of the indigenous people that remained. Being more concerned with the production of cash crops such as tobacco and sugar over food staples, famines occurred with frequency and the death rate of encomienda laborers was of genocidal proportions. Labor shortages were then filled through the use of slaves imported from Africa.
In Colonial Spain, a complex racial classification and hierarchy, known as the caste system, developed. It ranked one's place in society and thus determined what opportunities would be available. At the top were peninsulares, those whites born on the Iberian Peninsula. Below them were criollos, whites born in the Americas. There below it becomes messier ranking in detail the various mixed races based on blood quantum, originating terms such as mestizo, cholo, zambo, et cetera. At the bottom were non-mixed blacks. While the indigenous Americans were ranked low in the system, being just above blacks, they benefitted from holding a separate status. For example, indigenous peoples had the right to own land, the privilege of which was only shared with españoles (peninsulares and criollos). This was not out of generosity but rather out of necessity as the indigenous people were native inhabitants of the land and colonial rule depended on the support of allied chiefs. The effects of the caste system still exist today, being directly related to racism and privilege.
The Napoleonic Wars, which began in 1803, saw Spain drawn into conflict against France. The Criollo elite in Latin America used the weakened Spanish position to demand increased autonomy, which was rebuffed by the crown. The crown's refusal led to radicalization that evolved into calls for independence. Panama would secede from Spain in 1821 and become joined to the Republic of Colombia. By 1823 Spain had lost most of its colonies in the Americas and a message to the US congress delivered by President Monroe warned the European powers against further colonization of the Americas. This statement would become known as the Monroe doctrine. At the time however, the US lacked the means to enforce this doctrine. Instead, the British Navy was responsible for protecting the newly independent nations from Spanish incursion. Over the next few decades, the United States would compete primarily with the United Kingdom for influence in the Western Hemisphere.
US Interventionism in Latin America
Aside from business dealings and providing aid to pro-US factions in other Latin American countries, the US had yet proven itself capable of enforcing the Monroe Doctrine. The US Civil War which lasted from 1861-1865 kept the US preoccupied when a French intervention in Mexico installed a European monarch. With the Civil War complete however, the US placed diplomatic pressure on France to withdraw, but stopped short of military intervention. Instead, it provided a small loan of 30 million dollars to former president Benito Juarez who had been leading a resistance since his deposition. In 1866, France agreed to withdraw its soldiers and in 1867, Benito Juarez managed to restore the Mexican Republic and become reelected president.
So far so good, right? But then things become sketchier. In 1898, the US acquired the colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War. Though Cuba was granted its independence, the Platt Amendment that was inserted into the Cuban constitution meant that Cuba would become a de facto protectorate.
The end of the Spanish American War also marked a new era of American foreign policy in Latin America. Theodore Roosevelt, who assumed the presidency following the assassination of William McKinley in 1901, would announce his Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine by declaring that the US had the right and responsibility to preserve order, life, and property in the Western Hemisphere. The life and property that were being preserved however, were those of US citizens. Military intervention was largely carried out by the Marine Corps throughout Central America and the Caribbean. In Colombia, refusal to grant the United States rights to pick up where the French left off in constructing a canal led to a naval intervention in favor of Panamanian separatists. Panama was granted independence on November 3, 1903. In exchange, the US gained the rights to construct and maintain a canal.
The Panama Canal
Despite the newly created Canal Zone being under federal jurisdiction, it operated under Jim Crow-like conditions. Laborers largely came from the Caribbean, particularly Barbados and Jamaica. Americans were paid in gold US dollars while foreign laborers were paid in silver Colombian pesos. This would evolve into the "Gold Roll" and "Silver Roll" system, which determined one's pay grade depending on the specialization of their labor. However, the true determinant of one's placement was not skill, but race. Black specialists were discouraged from applying as were white laborers.
Construction of the Canal was completed in 1914. Fun fact: The US held a world fair to celebrate its opening in San Diego. Much of Balboa Park was developed for this event. The fact that the event was held on the west coast meant that visitors from Europe would have to cross the canal to attend and then cross again to return. However, the First World War was in full swing at the time and trans-atlantic travel largely ceased. But I digress. Tensions would rise over the status of the Canal Zone due to differing interpretations of the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty as well as the fact that the treaty was signed without input from the Panamanian delegation.
In 1963, President Kennedy agreed to allow the Panamanian flag to be flown alongside of the US flag within the Zone. Governor Fleming of the Zone however responded by by prohibiting the flying of the US flag, and by extent the Panamanian flag, in most areas of the Zone.
In protest, students marched to raise a Panamanian flag over Balboa High School (located within the Zone) but were blocked by Zonians. In the resulting scuffles, the Panamanian flag was torn, causing riots along the Zone's borders. Tensions would remain high until the signing of the Carter-Torrijos Treaties in 1977 which stipulated that Panama would gain full control of the Zone and the Canal before the end of the millennium. The large flag that flies over Cerro Ancón, formerly within the Canal Zone, is highly symbolic.
Bananas
Back to the turn of the 20th Century and moving forward, this era would see the so-called Banana Wars. So named given that the major US business interest in the region at the time was the exportation of fruit, principally bananas. Banana plantations in the region were by and large dominated by the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita) and the Standard Fruit Company (now Dole). These companies were notorious for the extremely low wages paid to laborers and their support of repressive dictators in order to maintain their profits as well as to keep the workers in line.
In Panama, the United Fruit Company set up banana plantations throughout the province of Bocas del Toro. Much like for the Panama Canal, unskilled labor was predominantly provided by the Caribbean. Operations in the area were relatively small and the government Panama was friendly with US business interests. As a result, writings concerning the United Fruit Company focus elsewhere. Nevertheless, the geographic, cultural, and economic makeup of Bocas del Toro was shaped by the UFC. The regional headquarters of the company was based in the town of Bocas del Toro on Isla Colón and the company spearheaded development into the jungle region along the rich soils near the Changuinola river (causing environmental degradation), in order to create plantations and company towns which were uncreatively named as Finca 1, Finca 2, et cetera. Today, many towns, and particularly neighborhoods of the city of Changuinola, harbor these same names.
The "Panama Disease" (Fusarium oxysporum), a soil born fungus that eliminated whole plantations, wreaked havoc in the country from whom it got its namesake. The disease spread northward and eliminated the Gros Michel banana. During this time, many farmers began to plant cacao trees and cacao is now a major fixture in the region along with bananas. Bananas would return through the use of the more disease-resistant Cavendish variety. Ngäbe people would thereafter begin to arrive in the western Bocas del Toro region as laborers and home-steaders owing to their ongoing integration into the Panamanian state. The UFC would also expand into the eastern part of Bocas del Toro province (now part of the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé) where Ngäbe communities were, and are, ubiquitous.
Following a period of financial decline in the late 1960's, the United Fruit Company was forced to sell much of its assets and its direct successor became Chiquita. Today, Chiquita operates in the Bocas del Toro region and from time to time there are strikes/protests in and around the city of Changuinola, where Chiquita's regional headquarters are located, to demand better wages and working conditions.
From Good Neighbor to Assertive Patron
With the economic hardships that came with the First World War, Spanish Flu pandemic and later the Great Depression, American military ventures largely ceased. In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt laid out the Good Neighbor Policy, which emphasized cooperation and trade as the means to create stability in the hemisphere, rather than military interventionism. As a consequence, the US abrogated the aforementioned Platt Amendment. While this period did see a reduction in US interventionism, there was a general blindness by the US public to the continuing exploitation occurring in the region, such as by US fruit companies. While the US wasn't directly intervening with its military forces, it still supplied various pro-US governments, many of them repressive dictatorships. One such government was that of Nicaragua, ruled by what was to become the Somoza dynasty which would reign from 1937-1979.
At the conclusion of the Second World War and the beginning of the Cold War, the US adopted the Truman Doctrine. That is, that the US would provide political, military, and economic assistance to any country under threat from authoritarian forces. This doctrine was announced in response to the communist uprising in Greece.
In Latin America, "America's Backyard", most countries were under dictatorial rule. Nevertheless, the US endeavored to oppose any and all communist influence in Latin America. The term communism however was applied to anything left-leaning. Particularly, anything that threatened business interests in the region. As such, left-leaning interests and governments could be opposed on the grounds of national security. Jacobo Arbenz, as an example, won the presidency in Guatemala and set about executing political reforms to promote democratic rule and the right for labor to organize. His agrarian reform law, which expropriated uncultivated land (but provided compensation) and redistributed it to poverty-stricken (largely indigenous) agricultural laborers, angered the United Fruit Company which lobbied the US government to have him overthrown. Arbenz's presidency only lasted from 1951-1953 before he was sent into exile.
The CIA, which had been created under the National Security Act of 1947, had begun to play a major role in US intervention. In fact, the overthrow of Arbenz was engineered and enacted by agents of the CIA in an operation code-named PBSuccess. While the CIA is often depicted as acting independently and roguishly, it should should be pointed out that each operation is approved by the President. The CIA would continue to organize paramilitary action across Latin America and indeed around the world.
During the Nixon Administration, there was a large increase in covert action. Peculiarly, there was a push to experiment with neoliberal economic ideas. These would be implemented in the Southern Cone (Chile, Argentina, Uruguay) and is exemplified by Chile under Pinochet.
In 1970, Salvador Allende was elected president of Chile. The first Marxist to have been elected in Latin America. In response, the US launched covert economic warfare on Chile. President Nixon famously directed the CIA to "Make the economy scream". This was intended to destabilize the Allende government to produce a climate favorable for a coup. Largely this was accomplished by restricting business to Chile and making it difficult for Chile to acquire economic aid from the IMF and World Bank. Meanwhile, the CIA also laid the groundwork for a coup attempt. In 1973, the Chilean military launched a coup and surrounded the presidential palace, La Moneda. Allende broadcast a farewell speech before committing suicide. Thus came an end to 4 decades of democratic rule in Chile.
After consolidating power, Pinochet began to implement various free market reforms. He gave free reign to a group of Chilean economists that had been educated at the University of Chicago. They came to be known as the "Chicago Boys" and set about implementing experimental neoliberal reform.
The same year as Chile, Uruguay suffered a military coup as did Argentina in 1976. In early 1974, security officials from various Southern Cone nations met to prepare coordinated actions against political enemies. Initially this coordination took Secretary of State Henry Kissinger by surprise and caused concern among the intelligence community. Nevertheless, the ultimate decision was not to act and the Nixon administration as well as future presidential administration would come to support this network through the CIA in what was known as Operation Condor. Formally implemented in 1975, the result of the Operation was the murder and disappearance of tens of thousands throughout the region as well as the imprisonment and torture of hundreds of thousands.
The Carter Administration would come to publicly denounce the actions of the many dictatorial governments in Latin America. Future administrations would also come to publicly denounce these governments, particularly due to the international condemnation of their actions. Nevertheless, the US continued to provide covert aid to these nations at least through the end of the Cold War.
Following popular uprisings, these dictatorships would fall. Most would be replaced by more democratic governments. Latin American countries generally maintain positive relations with the US and enjoy strong commercial and trade relations. Still, the people have not forgotten the actions of the US. As a visitor to Latin America, you would do well to understand this history.
Though the US is a public advocate for democracy, human rights and self-determination, the Cold War period was a shameful hypocrisy that we should reflect upon. Democratic governments were overturned in favor of dictatorships, human rights bore no weight in the calculation against communism, and self-determination was ignored in favor of paternalism. The United States benefitted from the systems of exploitation put in place and the current inequality between Latin America and the United States grants the US continuing leverage over the region.
Panama, military dictatorships and US relations
Peace Corps was founded by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 by executive order. Within five years, Peace Corps was active in 46 countries, 18 in the Americas. Ostensibly, this was a goodwill program that lent United Statesian personnel worldwide to provide their expertise. But in reality, it was a soft power tool to win hearts and minds in the third world as part of the larger Cold War. In Latin America particularly it had an additional related objective, to protect US business interests in the region. Many of the egalitarian tenets of socialist and communist ideology appealed to those in the third world who had long suffered under imperialism, colonialism, and other forms of exploitation. The American Way of LifeTM on the other hand was represented by the "Ugly American". Wealthy tourists and businessmen who strutted about as if they owned the country (and in some sense, they did), without regard to local culture or customs. The use of Peace Corps volunteers aimed to change the narrative.
While the US engaged in overt and covert action in Latin America, Peace Corps was a more diplomatic exertion of political influence. As popularly perceived, both in the US and abroad, Peace Corps sent Americans who would arrive to spend two years of their lives in service to a foreign community rather than spending that time in leisure back in the United States.
In 1968, a military government came to power following a coup and one General Omar Torrijos began to consolidate power, becoming the Líder Máximo of the country. Despite being a dictator, Torrijos was popular in the country due to the series of social reforms he implemented. He also led efforts to integrate indigenous people into Panamanian society. Torrijos carefully navigated relations with the US and largely left US business interests alone, though he aimed to increase national sovereignty. Despite the political victory of securing the Panama Canal, the fact that the US would continue to provide for its defense was a reminder of the country's dependency to the Northern giant. Nevertheless, Torrijos is still remembered fondly today with streets and neighborhoods named in his honor.
In 1971, the Panamanian government terminated the Peace Corps agreement, being the first to do so, arguing that similar work could be done using intra-national and multi-national volunteers. The US embassy in the nation hailed this move as a credit to Peace Corps' sustainability.
In 1981, Torrijos died in a suspicious plane crash which allowed General Manuel Noriega, Torrijos' chief of military intelligence, to rise to power. Noriega was a graduate of the School of the Americas and was on the CIA payroll. He was an important conduit for the United States in trafficking arms and other aids to US-backed militias in Latin America, particularly to the Contras in Nicaragua. Despite being connected to the drug trade, in opposition to the US War on Drugs, Noriega's involvement was overlooked as he was considered a valuable asset.
Noriega's increasing authoritarian tendencies and, particularly, the murder of physician Hugo Spadafora, led the US to considering Noriega a liability. This, combined with increased drug trafficking to Florida by way of Panama, led to the US to call for his resignation. He was removed from the CIA payroll and the US began applying pressure for his removal. In response, Noriega began stoking anti-American sentiment in the country.
The US attempted to influence the 1989 election in favor of Noriega's opposition. When results indicated a victory for Guillermo Endara, Noriega voided the election and declared himself as "Líder Máximo". Officially, the US launched its invasion the night of December 20, 1989 in response to the murder of an unarmed marine at a PDF road-block. The invasion itself however, had been planned months prior. President Bush stated that the goal of the invasion was to defend American lives and interests in Panama and to promote democracy and human rights (note the order of the objectives). The brunt of the damage was sustained by Panama's poorer communities and at least 300 civilians were killed according to observers such as Physicians for Human Rights.
Noriega was captured in January of the following year and Guillermo Endara was installed as president. While the Panamanian public was generally pleased to be rid of Noriega, Endara came to be viewed as little more than a US puppet. During February of 1990, Peace Corps had returned and has operated in the country since.
Additional Resources (Some personal selections, by no means complete)
Nicaragua - A Nation's Right to Survive by John Pilger (1983). This journalistic film examines the US-backed Somoza dictatorship, the Sandinista insurgency that overthrew it, and the US' attempts at counter-revolution.
Dosal, Paul J (1993) Doing business with the dictators: a political history of United Fruit in Guatemala, 1899-1944. This book describes the commercial empire the UFC built just in the nation of Guatemala.
Kornbluh, Peter (2013) The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability. This book utilizes declassified files from the National Security Archives to shed light on the formerly secret US covert actions in Chile.
A two-part discussion featured on Democracy Now! includes Peter Kornbluh who discusses much of the findings in his book. Part 1 & Part 2
