Panama Declares Independence From Colombia; U.S. Gunboat Just Happens to Be Parked Right There
Panama broke away from the Republic of Colombia this evening, and the most remarkable thing about the revolution, residents agreed, was how smoothly it ran to schedule. Crowds filled the streets of Panama City, a provisional junta was formed, the city's garrison switched sides, and the Colombian generals who had come to stop all of this spent the night under arrest.
The generals, Juan Tovar and Ramón Amaya, arrived at Colón on the Caribbean side this morning with several hundred troops. The Panama Railroad, which is American-owned, kindly arranged a special train across the isthmus for the generals and their officers. It regretted that it could not find cars for the soldiers, who stayed behind in Colón. In Panama City the generals were arrested on the orders of General Esteban Huertas, commander of the local Colombian garrison, who changed sides with a speed the railroad could only envy.
Waiting off Colón is the USS Nashville, an American gunboat that arrived yesterday, purely by coincidence. Washington has cabled its commander, in the interests of peace, to keep the transit of the isthmus open and to stop government troops from proceeding to Panama. In this case, the interests of peace and the interests of a canal appear to be the same interests.
The canal is the point. In August, Colombia's senate rejected a treaty that would have let the United States finish the abandoned French canal here. President Theodore Roosevelt took the rejection personally, as he takes most things. Panamanian patriots have wanted out of Colombia for decades. Today, everyone's calendars lined up perfectly.
Helping to line them up was Philippe Bunau-Varilla, a French engineer from the old canal enterprise, whose company would very much like to sell its rights and leftover equipment to the Americans. Mr. Bunau-Varilla has been advising the revolutionaries from a hotel in New York, and expects to represent the new republic in Washington. He has not lived in Panama for years, but says it has never felt more like home.
Asked how soon Washington might recognize the new nation, one official said "very soon." Asked how soon, he checked his watch.
Nobody Asked Bogotá, Which Was Rather the Idea
I have been asked by several readers whether today's events in Panama count as a revolution, a real estate transaction or a train timetable. I answer: why choose?
Panamanians have real grievances and real courage, and they will have a real country. I simply note that every other revolution in history would have been a great deal easier with a friendly railroad and a gunboat that arrived the day before. History will judge Washington. Washington is confident that history, like the railroad, will be very accommodating.
On November 3, 1903, separatists in Panama, then a department of Colombia, declared independence after Colombia's senate rejected the Hay-Herrán canal treaty in August. The gunboat USS Nashville at Colón was ordered to keep the isthmus transit open and prevent Colombian troops from moving to Panama City. The U.S.-owned Panama Railroad carried Generals Juan Tovar and Ramón Amaya across, but not their soldiers, and the generals were arrested on the orders of garrison commander Esteban Huertas. The United States recognized Panama within days. Philippe Bunau-Varilla, a French engineer tied to the French canal company, became Panama's envoy and on November 18 signed the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, giving the U.S. control of a canal zone; the French company was paid $40 million for its assets. Roosevelt later boasted, "I took the Isthmus." The canal opened in 1914, and the U.S. handed it over to Panama on December 31, 1999.