HISTORY
Panama's history has been shaped by the evolution of the world economy and the ambitions of great powers. The earliest known inhabitants of Panama were the Cuevas and the Coclé tribes, but they were decimated by disease and fighting when the Spanish arrived in the 1500s.
Rodrigo de Bastidas, sailing westward from Venezuela in 1501 in search of gold, was the first European to explore the Isthmus of Panama. A year later, Christopher Columbus visited the Isthmus and established a short-lived settlement in the Darien. Vasco Nunez de Balboa's tortuous trek from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1513 demonstrated that the Isthmus was, indeed, the path between the seas, and Panama quickly became the crossroads and marketplace of Spain's empire in the New World. Gold and silver were brought by ship from South America, hauled across the Isthmus, and loaded aboard ships for Spain. The route became known as the Camino Real, or Royal Road, although it was more commonly known as Camino de Cruces (Road of the Crosses) because of the abundance of gravesites along the way.
Panama was part of the Spanish empire for 300 years (1538-1821). From the outset, Panamanian identity was based on a sense of "geographic destiny," and Panamanian fortunes fluctuated with the geopolitical importance of the Isthmus. The colonial experience also spawned Panamanian nationalism as well as a racially complex and highly stratified society, the source of internal conflicts that ran counter to the unifying force of nationalism.
Building the Canal
Modern Panamanian history has been shaped by its transisthmian
canal, which had been a dream since the beginning of Spanish colonization.
From 1880 to 1890, a French company under Ferdinand de Lesseps
attempted unsuccessfully to construct a sea-level canal on the
site of the present Panama Canal. In November 1903, with U.S.
encouragement, Panama proclaimed its independence and concluded
the Hay/Bunau-Varilla Treaty with the United States.
The treaty granted rights to the United States "as if it were sovereign" in a zone roughly 10 miles wide and 50 miles long. In that zone, the U.S. would build a canal, then administer, fortify, and defend it "in perpetuity." In 1914, the United States completed the existing 83-kilometer (52 mile) canal, which is one of the world's greatest feats of engineering. The early 1960s saw the beginning of sustained pressure in Panama for the renegotiation of this treaty.
Military Coups and Coalitions
From 1903 until 1968, Panama was a constitutional democracy dominated
by a commercially oriented oligarchy. During the 1950s, the Panamanian
military began to challenge the oligarchy's political hegemony.
In October 1968, Dr. Arnulfo Arias Madrid, twice elected president
and twice ousted by the Panamanian military, was ousted for a
third time as president by the National Guard after only 10 days
in office. A military government was established, and the commander
of the National Guard, Brigadier General Omar Torrijos, soon emerged
as the principal power in Panamanian political life. Torrijos'
regime was harsh and corrupt, but his charisma, populist domestic
programs, and nationalist (anti-U.S.) foreign policy appealed
to the rural and urban constituencies largely ignored by the oligarchy.
Torrijos' death in 1981 altered the tone but not the direction
of Panama's political evolution. Despite the 1983 constitutional
amendments, which appeared to proscribe a political role for the
military, the Panama Defense Forces (PDF), as they were then known,
continued to dominate Panamanian political life behind a facade
of civilian government. By this time, General Manuel Noriega was
firmly in control of both the PDF and the civilian government.
The United States froze economic and military assistance to Panama
in the summer of 1987 in response to the domestic political crisis
in Panama and an attack on the U.S. Embassy. General Noriega's
February 1988 indictment in U.S. courts on drug trafficking charges
sharpened tensions. In April 1988, President Reagan invoked the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act, freezing Panamanian
Government assets in U.S. banks and prohibiting payments by American
agencies, firms, and individuals to the Noriega regime. When national
elections were held in May 1989, Panamanians voted for the anti-Noriega
candidates by a margin of over three-to-one. The Noriega regime
promptly annulled the election and embarked on a new round of
repression. By the fall of 1989 the regime was barely clinging
to power, and the regime's paranoia made daily existence unsafe
for American citizens.
On December 20, 1989, President George H.W. Bush ordered the U.S. military into Panama to protect U.S. lives and property, to fulfill U.S. treaty responsibilities to operate and defend the Canal, to assist the Panamanian people in restoring democracy, and to bring Noriega to justice. The U.S. troops involved in Operation Just Cause achieved their primary objectives quickly, and Noriega eventually surrendered to U.S. authorities. He completed his sentence for drug trafficking charges in September 2007. In August 2007, a U.S. federal court in Miami found Noriega extraditable to France to serve a sentence imposed there after an in absentia conviction for money laundering. Noriega remains in custody pending the outcome of his legal challenges to the certificate of extraditability issued August 2007.
Rebuilding Democracy
Panama's Electoral Tribunal moved quickly to rebuild the civilian constitutional government, reinstated the results of the May 1989 election on December 27, 1989, and confirmed the victory of President Guillermo Endara and Vice Presidents Guillermo Ford and Ricardo Arias Calderon.
During its 5-year term, the often-fractious Endara government struggled to meet the public's high expectations. Its new police force was a major improvement over its predecessor but was not fully able to deter crime. Ernesto Perez Balladares was sworn in as President on September 1, 1994, after an internationally monitored election campaign.
Perez Balladares ran as the candidate for a three-party coalition
dominated by the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), the erstwhile
political arm of the military dictatorship during the Torrijos
and Noriega years. A long-time member of the PRD, Perez Balladares
worked skillfully during the campaign to rehabilitate the PRD's
image, emphasizing the party's populist Torrijos roots rather
than its association with Noriega. He won the election with only
33% of the vote when the major non-PRD forces, unable to agree
on a joint candidate, splintered into competing factions. His
administration carried out economic reforms and often worked closely
with the U.S. on implementation of the Canal treaties.
On September 1, 1999, Mireya Moscoso, the widow of former President Arnulfo Arias Madrid, took office after defeating PRD candidate Martin Torrijos, son of the late dictator, in a free and fair election. During her administration, Moscoso attempted to strengthen social programs, especially for child and youth development, protection, and general welfare. Moscoso's administration successfully handled the Panama Canal transfer and was effective in the administration of the Canal.
The PRD's Martin Torrijos won the presidency and a legislative majority in the National Assembly in 2004. Torrijos ran his campaign on a platform of "zero tolerance" for corruption, a problem endemic to the Moscoso and Perez Balladares administrations. Since taking office, Torrijos has passed a number of laws making the government more transparent. He formed a National Anti-Corruption Council whose members represent the highest levels of government, as well as civil society, labor organizations, and religious leadership. In addition, many of his closest Cabinet ministers are non-political technocrats known for their support for the Torrijos government's anti-corruption aims. Despite the Torrijos administration's public stance on corruption, few high-profile cases, particularly involving political or business elites, have been acted upon.
