Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
sea-level canal proved unfeasible, while yellow fever, malaria and a host of other unpleasant
diseases ravaged the workforce. In 1889 the Compagnie collapsed; $287 million had evap-
orated as a result of financial mismanagement and corruption, implicating the highest levels
of French society in what an official described as “the greatest fraud of modern times”. Hun-
dreds of thousands of ordinary French investors lost everything.
The War of the Thousand Days
At the end of the nineteenth century the simmering feud between the Conservative and Lib-
eral parties erupted into a bloody three-year
civil war
referred to as the
War of the Thou-
sand Days
(
Guerra de los Mil Días
). Though there were distinct ideological differences -
ruling elite
Conservatives
supported a strong central government, limited voting rights and
close bonds between church and state whereas the merchant class and educated
Liberals
wanted more decentralized, federal government, universal voting rights and a greater division
between church and state - there were also many factions within each party. The violence
was triggered by alleged election fraud by the landed Conservatives in their bid to remain
in power, but by the time the bloody conflict had ended in 1902, claiming around a hundred
thousand lives, it was hard to pinpoint what much of the fighting had actually been about.
It's also unclear whether key Liberal protagonists were motivated more by the desire for sep-
aration or greater democracy and social justice; regardless, most Liberals were subsequently
elevated to the status of nationalist heroes.
In Panama the initial Liberal revolt was led by
Belisario Porras
, the popular exiled lawyer,
who later won three periods of office as president of Panama. With the support of the pres-
idents of Nicaragua and Ecuador, Porras entered western Panama on March 31, 1900, with
an invasion force commanded by Colombian
Emiliano Herrera
, at the insistence of Presid-
ent Zelaya of Nicaragua. Their antagonism was a major factor in the ultimate Liberal failure.
Moving towards Panama City, they gathered numerous supporters, but slow progress allowed
reinforcements to arrive from Colombia. On arrival outside the capital, Herrera rejected Por-
ras's attack plan and led a botched single-pronged assault on the city that resulted in a thou-
sand dead. Though the Conservatives reasserted their authority, small bands of Liberal sym-
pathizers ran riot in the interior, especially in the central rural areas under the leadership of
Victoriano Lorenzo
, a local official of mixed race from Coclé and a champion of the indi-
genous population.
In 1901, a second Nicaraguan-backed Liberal force managed to take Colón and effectively
immobilize the railway, forcing the Colombian government to ask the US to broker an
armistice. The Liberals, fearing intervention by the US government, agreed to the peace con-
ditions but Lorenzo refused to accept the terms. In a sordid collusion between both Conser-
vative and Liberal social elites, Lorenzo was tricked into capture. In disregard of the amnesty
detailed in the accord, he was summarily tried and executed by firing squad on May 15, 1903,
