In this article, Panama and Colombia are the protagonists. I base this story on Why did Panama and Colombia separate and what role did the United States play?  of BBC News Mundo, which had Panamanian historian Marixa Lasso as its source. The BBC introduces the subject in a suggestive way: "We review history to understand how a bloody war, a revolutionary idea and a tangled treaty, led to Panama ceasing to be part of Colombia"

With the above inputs, I share with you, roughly, elements to understand why in Panama and Colombia, territories once united (at the end of the nineteenth century and until the beginning of the twentieth century), today in the twenty-first century in general, their inhabitants are unaware of their shared history and do not hurt or wonder about the separation that occurred on November 3, 1903. Today Panama is for Colombians, tourism and Dutty-Free Trade.

Photo 1. Lucía Vásquez Celis 2024 recalling the history of the Panama Canal

_{COLOMBIA AND PANAMA: TERRITORIES AND POPULATIONS TOGETHER AND "SCRAMBLED"}

In the nineteenth century and after independence from Spain, Gran Colombia was created, which served as a country that included part of what are now Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama and Colombia. In 1830, Venezuela and Ecuador separated from that Gran Colombia and the country, now made up only of Panama and Colombia, was renamed New Granada and, later, Colombia.

Between 1850 and 1880, Colombia was a federal country, which guaranteed freedom of worship and based its political and administrative organization on the immense cultural and economic diversity of its territory, which included Panama.  

_{MULTIFACTORS LEAD TO THE SEPARATION OF PANAMA}

Figure 1. Panama separates from Colombia. Source https://www.bing.com/search?q=causas+de+separaci%C3%B3n+de+panam%C3%A1+y+colombia.

At the end of the nineteenth century, with the coming to power of the conservative party, the socio-economic and political dynamics of the country were overturned, with the imposition of a centralized state model with close ties to the Catholic Church that, in addition to prohibiting and persecuting the secular character of the country, promoted economic and political measures of the legacy of the Spanish colonizers. In this period known as "Regeneration", the Constitution of 1886 was created, highly questioned, among others because it weakened the power of the nine Sovereign States that made up the country, as they became political-administrative entities dependent on the central government in Bogotá, the capital.

One of these entities was the Isthmus of Panama, that geographical feature located between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, which was also not aligned with the conservative hegemony. This political tension, which spread throughout Colombia, served as a prelude to a civil war that would later facilitate international interference.

The Thousand Days War was the most iconic confrontation that occurred between 1899 and 1902. Three years of bloody battles that took place as a result of the reaction of moderate conservatives and liberals who were against the Regeneration and the Constitution of 86, considering it authoritarian. A perception shared by Panamanians.

“Panama had a mostly liberal population. And at the end of the nineteenth century there was enormous fatigue with the conservative centralism of the 1886 Constitution. Panama played a leading role in the history of Colombian federalism. Panamanians had a great federalist, autonomist vocation and resented the Colombian centralist governments. The end of the war with the official victory of the conservatives and with the judicial assassination of the liberal general Victoriano Lorenzo, who was an indigenous Panamanian, increased the discontent in the liberal majorities." (Marixa Lasso. Historias Perdidas del Canal de Panamá).

The balance of the war was disastrous. 3% of the population died, infrastructure and industry were destroyed, inflation and foreign debt skyrocketed; and thousands of people left the cities. At that point in history it was clear that the unity of a country centralized by a Bogota elite was quite fragile. So any attempt to separate either region could have a chance of success.

The balance of the war was disastrous. 3% of the population died, infrastructure and industry were destroyed, inflation and foreign debt skyrocketed; and thousands of people left the cities. At that point in history it was clear that the unity of a country centralized by a Bogota elite was quite fragile. So any attempt to separate either region could have a chance of success.

Additionally, the territory of Panama began to be highly coveted due to its strategic geographical location with access to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and with great possibilities for the then "project" of an "international canal" that was envisioned as the great engineering work with potential to change world trade.  

_{THE UNITED STATES PLAYED A CRUCIAL ROLE}

The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of 1901 signed by the United States and the United Kingdom, in which both powers annulled the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850, meant recognizing the United States' right to build a canal throughout Central America connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It was negotiated between John Milton Hay, U.S. Secretary of State, and Lord Pauncefote, British ambassador to the U.S.

On April 6, 1914, the United States signed the Urrutia Thomson Treaty with Colombia, recognizing rights that Colombia "would have" over the Panama Canal and Railroad. Colombia recognized the separation from Panama, receiving 25 million dollars in compensation. Thus, the canal, built between 1881 and 1914 along the Isthmus of Panama, came under "joint" U.S.-Panamanian control. Arguing that the Panama Canal had become militarily obsolete due to the size of major modern warships, President Jimmy Carter signed a new "Panama Canal Treaty in 1977" pledging a gradual U.S. withdrawal to be completed in 2000 under the conditionality of "permanent neutrality" of the canal. The delivery to Panama was made in 1999.