Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
workers - Indians, Europeans, Chinese and above all West Indians - stayed on after its com-
pletion, indelibly transforming the racial and cultural make-up of Panama. Work was car-
ried out under an apartheid labour system, where white Americans were paid in gold and the
rest - the vast majority of whom were black - in silver. Employees were “
gold roll
” or “
sil-
ver roll
”, a categorization that permeated every aspect of life. The gold roll employees and
their families enjoyed higher wages, superior accommodation, better nutrition, health care
and schooling; even toilets and drinking fountains were set aside for the exclusive use of one
group or the other. Unsurprisingly, the mortality rate among black workers was four times
higher than among whites.
The New Republic
Though their economy boomed during the canal's construction, it was soon apparent to
Panamanians that they had exchanged control by Bogotá for dominance by the US. The gov-
ernment, largely controlled by a ruling
oligarchy
known as the “twenty families”, was in-
dependent in name only; the US controlled everything - trade, communications, water and
security. Moreover, the de facto sovereignty and legal jurisdiction that the US enjoyed within
the Canal Zone made it a strip of US territory in which Panamanians were denied the com-
mercial and employment opportunities enjoyed by the US “
Zonians
”, a situation that las-
ted well beyond the completion of the canal. The US agreement to guarantee Panamanian
independence came at the price of intervention whenever the US considered it necessary to
“maintain order”, a right they exercised on several occasions.
One such action followed the Dule or
Guna Revolution
in 1925, an eventual result of
the Panamanian government refusing to recognize the relative autonomy granted by the Co-
lombian authorities in 1870 through the Comarca Tulenega. Pressure mounted when outside
groups were given concessions to plunder Guna resources and persistent attempts made to
suppress Guna culture. Following an
armed revolt
led by Sailas (chiefs) Nele Kantule and
Olokindibipilele (Simral Colman), which resulted in around twenty fatalities on each side,
the Guna declared independence. Forestalling government retaliation, the US stepped in and
mediated a
peace agreement
that granted the Guna the semi-autonomous status they still re-
tain.
The Republic of Panama's first president, the respected Conservative
Manuel Amador
Guerrero
, was actually from Colombia, though he had been heavily involved in the separ-
atist movement, and more important, was well known to the Americans as the former med-
ical officer for the Panama Railroad. But the first Panamanian president of real impact was
Belisario Porras
, elected to office in 1912 for the first of three terms (1912-16, 1918-20,
1920-24). A trained lawyer and prominent Liberal leader from the War of a Thousand Days,
he is largely credited for establishing the basic infrastructure necessary for a newly independ-
