No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
The Panamanian Revolution of November 3, 1903, and the establishment of an independent republic under the aegis of the United States are well-known and often related events. Neither the scholar nor the polemicist has been guilty of neglecting this episode in history. The Revolution of 1903 was to Panamá, of course, the starting point of its history as a separate state; to Colombia, possession of the isthmus of Panamá seemed a sine qua non of national existence. Thus it is no surprise that writers in both countries should turn their attention to the circumstances of the separation of Panamá from Colombia. With the passage of over half a century we can assume that Panamanian and Colombian attitudes toward the Revolution, and the role of the United States in it, have undergone changes. It is hoped that by examining some of the books written by Panamanians and Colombians about their countries' histories in general, or the canal and isthmian politics in particular, the evolution of these changed, and still changing, attitudes will be illuminated.
1 The best work is Miner, Dwight C., The Fight for the Panama Route: The Story of the Spooner Act and the Hay-Herran Treaty (New York: Columbia University Press, 1940);Google Scholar while hardly free from passion, the best work in Spanish remains Terán, Oscar, Del Tratado Herrán-Hay al Tratado Hay-Bunau-Varilla (2 vols.; Panamá: Imprenta de “ Motivos Colombianos,” 1934).Google Scholar
2 Sosa, Juan B. and Arce, Enrique J., Compendio de Historia de Panamá (Panamá: Casa Editorial Morales y Rodríguez, 1911), p. 307.Google Scholar
3 Philippe Bunau-Varilla, a Frenchman and stockholder in the French New Panamá Canal Company, was made the representative of Panamá, in November, 1903, and quickly came to terms with Secretary of State John Hay. Some of these terms included the perpetual grant of a zone ten miles wide (excluding the cities of Panamá and Colón), and full control and police powers by the United States over the Isthmus in the zone area. In return Panamá received ten million dollars, plus (after a nine-year waiting period) and annuity of a quarter of a million. The New Canal Company also benefitted to the sum of forty million dollars for transferring its canal franchise, granted by the Colombian government, to the United States; Miner, , Fight for Panama Route, p. 377;Google Scholar the text of the treaty may be found in Diplomatic History of the Panama Canal: Correspondence relating to the negotiations and application of certain treaties on the subject of the construction of an interoceanic canal, and accompanying papers (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1914), pp. 295–303.
4 Ibid., p. 319.
5 Pereira, Octavio Méndez and Martínez, Cirillo J., Elementos de Instrucción Cívica (2nd. ed.; Panamá: Imprenta Esto y Aquello, 1916).Google Scholar Panamanians were urged to “ celebrar en cada escuela nuestras fiestas cívicas, especialmente el aniversario del nuestra emancipación en 1903, con actos públicos sencillos, instructivos y patrióticos ” (p. vii).
6 Ibid., p. 22.
7 The revolutionary junta that brought the Republic of Panama to life included Dr. Manuel Amador Guerrero, José Agustín Arango, Carlos C. Arosemena, Nicanor A. de Obarrio, Ricardo Arias, Federico Boyd, Tomas Arias, and Manuel Espinosa B. The coup was accomplished with but two fatalities—one human, and one animal (Miner, , Fight for Panama Route, pp. 337–339, 364).Google Scholar
8 Pereira, and Martínez, , Elementos, pp. 123–130,Google Scholar 154; Cubans are stirred by the martial command of their national anthem, “ Al Combate … ! ” In contrast, “ A Panamá, En el 3 de Noviembre ” extols the peaceful nature of the Isthmian revolution—a peace, imposed of course by the training of U. S. naval guns on the encampment of Colombian army troops at Colón.
9 Arias, Harmodio, The Panama Canal, A Study in International Law and Diplomacy (London: P. S. King & Son, 1911), p. 78.Google Scholar
10 Ibid., p. 129; the arguments for internationalizing the canal have such a familiar ring, that the modern reader expects to find the suggestion for a “ Canal Users’ Association.”
11 See Mccain, William D., The United States and the Republic of Panama (Durham: Duke University Press, 1937), pp. 237 ff.Google Scholar
12 Velarde, Fabián, Análisis del Nuevo Tratado (Panamá: Star & Herald, 1927), p. 7.Google Scholar
13 Ibid., pp. 43–44.
14 La Obra de la Sociedad Panameña de Acción Internacional, Un Aspecto de su Actuación, El Programa de las Aspiraciones Panameñas (Panamá: Tipografía La Moderna, 1934), pp. 9, 19.
15 Panama-United States Relations, Sociedad Panameña de Acción Internacional (Panamá: Panamá American Printers, 1934), pp. 68–69.
16 This treaty of 1846 preceded by nine years the completion of the North American-built Isthmian railroad. Article 35 read: “The United States guarantees positively and efficaciously to New Granada, by the present stipulation, the perfect neutrality of the … Isthmus, with the view that the free transit from one to the other sea may not be interrupted or embarrassed in any future time while this treaty exists, and in consequence the United States also guarantees in the same manner the rights of sovereignty and property which New Granada has and possesses over said territory ”; Uribe, Antonio José (ed.), Anales Diplomáticos y Consulares de Colombia (6 vols.; Bogotá: Imprenta Nacional, 1900–1920), 6, 164–165.Google Scholar
17 Carlos Martínez Silva and José Vicente Concha were the two ministers sent to Washington to negotiate a Colombia-United States treaty. Martínez Silva arrived in February, 1901, but could reach no agreement. Concha, who arrived one year later as a replacement, came close to signing a treaty, but balked at the last minute, leaving everything in the hands of the chargé d'affaires, Tomas Herrán, who signed early in 1903. It was this subordinate's misfortune to have his name cursed in his native land as opposition to the Hay-Herrán treaty mounted; Gatell, Frank Otto, “Colombia and the Canal” (Unpublished Honors Essay, The College of the City of New York, 1956), Ch. II & III.Google Scholar
18 Castillero Reyes, Ernesto J., La Causa Inmediata de la Emancipación de Panamá (Panamá: Imprenta Nacional, 1933), p. 68.Google Scholar Cromwell, of the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, was the lobbyist par excellence for the New Canal Company; cf. Miner, , Fight for Panama Route, pp. 75, 77 n.Google Scholar
19 Reyes, Castillero, Causa Inmediata, p. 79.Google Scholar
20 Ibid., pp. 104–105.
21 Castillero Reyes, Ernesto J., Panamá, Breve Historia de la República (Buenos Aires: Soc. Imprenta Americana, 1939), p. 9.Google Scholar
22 Ibid., p. 19.
23 Castillero Reyes, Ernesto J., Historia de la Communieación Interoceánica, y de su Influencia en la Formación y en el Desarrollo de la Entidad Nacional Panameña (Panamá: Imprenta Nacional, [1941?]), pp. 200–217.Google Scholar
24 Castillero Reyes, Ernesto J. and Arce, Enrique J., Historia de Panamá (4th ed.; Panamá: [no publ.], 1949), p. 123.Google Scholar
25 Pimental, Ernesto Castillero, Panamá y los Estados Unidos (Panamá: Editora Panamá América, 1953), p. 79.Google Scholar
26 Ibid., pp. 84–85.
27 Taylor Parks, E., Colombia and the United States, 1765–1934 (Durham: Duke University Press, 1935), p. xi.Google Scholar
28 The treaty was signed in April, 1914. In addition to a payment of twenty-five million dollars, Colombia was assured that: “The Government of the United States of America desirous of putting an end to all the controversies and differences with the Republic of Colombia … expresses sincere regret for whatever may have occurred to interrupt or alter the relations of cordial friendship that existed for such a long time between the two nations. The Government of the Republic of Colombia … accepts this declaration in the full security that it will seal the disappearance of all obstacles to the reestablishment of complete harmony. …” Documentos Relativos al Tratado del 6 de Abril de 1914, entre Colombia y los Estados Unidos de América (Bogotá: Imprenta Nacional, 1921), pp. 5–6. Theodore Roosevelt was up in arms immediately. From his Brazilian safari he charged, “The payment can only be justified upon the ground that this nation has played the part either of a thief or of a receiver of stolen goods.” Roosevelt to Sen. Stone, July 11, 1914, Morison, Elting E., et al. (eds.), Letters of Theodore Roosevelt (8 vols.; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1950–1954), 7, 777–778.Google Scholar The issue was shelved, and only after the war, and the promise of possible Colombian oil concessions, was it brought to life in 1921. The treaty passed minus the “ sincere regret” clause.
29 Quoted in Terán, , Del Tratado, 2, 463.Google Scholar
30 Vergara, Francisco Javier y Velasco, , Novísimo Texto de Historia de Colombia (Bogotá: Camacho, Roldán y Tamayo, 1910), p. 298.Google Scholar
31 Henao, Jesús María y Arrubla, Gerardo, Historia de Colombia para la Enseñanza Secundaria (Bogotá: Librería Colombiana, 1936), p. 520.Google Scholar
32 Ibid., p. 521.
33 García, Julio César, Historia de Colombia (Medellín: Imprenta de la Universidad, 1941), p. 295.Google Scholar
34 La Enseñanza de Historia en las Escuelas de Colombia (Bogotá: [no publ.], 1951), p. 141.
35 Concha, José Vicente, Las Negociaciones Diplomáticas del Canal de Panamá (Bogotá: Imprenta de la Luz, 1904), p. 3.Google Scholar
36 José Manuel Marroquín was vice-president of the Republic of Colombia; in 1900 he seized all executive power from the aged Manuel Antonio Sanclemente. Because of his indecisiveness and suspicious nature, he was of no assistance to his ministers in the United States (Miner, , Fight for Panama Route, pp. 52 ff.).Google Scholar
37 Delgado, Luis Martínez, A Propósito del Dr. Carlos Martínez Silva (Bogotá: Editorial Minerva, 1926), p. 332.Google Scholar
38 Ibid., p. 335.
39 Delgado, Luis Martínez (ed.), Obras Completas del Dr. Carlos Martínez Silva (4 vols.; Bogotá: Imprenta Nacional, 1934), 1, 29.Google Scholar
40 Vernaza, José Ignacio, Carlos Albán (Cali: Imprenta Departmental, 1948), p. 164.Google Scholar
41 Cobo, A. Vázquez, Fro Patria, Cuestiones Internacionales (Paris: Roger & Chernoviz, 1910), pp. 226–227.Google Scholar
42 Ibid., pp. 231, 244.
43 Ibid., p. 248.
44 Urrutía, Francisco José, A Commentary on the Declaration of the Rights of Nations (Washington: [no publ.], 1916).Google Scholar
45 Ibid., pp. 43–46.
46 Ibid., pp. 65–67.
47 Nieto Caballero, J.E., El Dolor de Colombia (Bogota: Tipografía Moderna, 1922), p. 7.Google Scholar
48 Ibid., p. 138.
49 Uribe, Antonio José, Las Modificaciones al Tratado Entre Colombia y los Estados Unidos (Bogotá: Imprenta Nacional, 1921);Google Scholar Cuestiones Internacionales, Económicas, Políticas y Sociales (Bogotá: Librería Colombiana, 1926); Colombia y los Estados Unidos: El Canal Interoceánico, la Separación de Panamá (Bogotá: Librería Colombi-ana, 1926); Colombia y los Estados Unidos de América (Bogotá: Imprenta Nacional, 1931); Cuestiones Internacionales (Bogotá: Editorial Minerva, 1931).
50 Uribe, , Cuestiones [1926], pp. 8–9.Google Scholar
51 Otero, Luis Alfredo, Panamá (Bogotá: Imprenta Nacional, 1926).Google Scholar
52 Ibid., p. 13.
53 Ibid., pp. 33–35.
54 Ibid., p. 53.
55 Ibid., p. 63.
56 Ibid., p. 148.
57 Rebolledo, Alvaro, Reseña Histórica-Política de la Comunicación Inter-Oceánica (San Francisco, Cal.: Editorial Hispano-América, 1933), p. 9.Google Scholar
58 Ibid., pp. 197–200.
59 Ibid., pp. 209–210.
60 Pimental, Castillero, Panamá, p. 77 n.;Google Scholar for Terán, see note 1.
61 Libro Azul:Documentos Diplomáticos Sobre el Canal y la Rebelión del Istmo de Panamá (Bogotá: Imprenta Nacional, 1904); The Story of Panama, Hearings on the Rainey Resolution, House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1913); I am indebted to Prof. Miner of Columbia University, who allowed me to use his personal copy of the Libro Azul.
62 Terán, , Del Tratado, 1, 38 n.Google Scholar
63 Ibid., I, 85–86.
64 “Historíase aquí, en efecto, un caso de expansión geográfica y política de los Estados Unidos anglosajones llevado a cabo dentro del patrimonio territorial de una nación hispano-americana comparativamente inerme y sin otra fuerza ni defensa que las del derecho; y ello por los medios mas ilícitos, inmorales y reprobados que puedan imaginarse. El cohecho, el engaño, la perfidia, la fé púnica, la instigación al prevaricato, a la traición, en una palabra, todas las formas posibles del maquiavelismo clásico quedaron allí ejemplarizadas y como palentalas bajo el rótulo de Yanquilandía.” (Ibid., I, 14.)
65 Ibid., I, 110.
66 As Terán sees it, the goals sought by both the ministers—a canal treaty with the United States and full Colombian sovereignty over the Isthmus—were mutually exclusive: “Desgraciadamente el Dr. José Vicente Concha, al partir de Bogotá … traía como objeto de su misión el mismo exactamente que un año antes había recibido el Dr. Martínez Silva. … El nuevo Ministro debía procurar a todo trance el triunfo de la ruta de Panamá, pero dentro de las facultades del Gobierno y sin menoscabo de la integridad territorial y de la soberanía nacional.” (Ibid., I, 111.)
67 Ibid., I, 163.
68 The memorandum, the first fruit of the negotiations, is printed in full in Miner, , Fight for Panama Route, pp. 397–407.Google Scholar
69 Terán, , Del Tratado, 1, 276–277.Google Scholar
70 Uribe, (ed.), Anales Diplomáticos, 4, 813.Google Scholar
71 Terán, , Del Tratado, 1, 187, 209 n.Google Scholar
72 Ibid., I, 219.
73 Ibid., II, 479.