Panama Canal was a geographical gift to USA after the Monroe Doctrine cemented its domination of the western hemisphere. Yet it had to promote secession of Panama from Colombia to get the right to the isthmus to dig the canal. Omar Torjjios, the nationalist President of Panama signed a deal with Jimmy Carter, President of USA in the seventies of last century to get the canal back. Now Panama Canal is Panama's. American troops are gone.
Panama city with its sky scrapers could be called the Miami of South America. No more appropriate would be to call it Singapore, Dubai or Doha of the Americas. Panama is a small country with a small population of three and a half million. But it is a rainbow population of black, white, indigenous and mixed.
With the departure of President Calderon of Mexico and President Pinierra of Chile, Panama is the only country in Latin America to have rightist government with the exceptions of the coup governments of Honduras and Paraguay.
It would be wrong to call President Martines a rightist. He is considered a conservative nationalist. President Omar Torjiios gave Panama a nationalist identity and won Panama the right to get back the canal. Norreiga, the army intelligence chief became the head of the government with close cooperation with USA. He was known as a drug lord. The Americans ultimately overthrew him by direct invasion. Then the power was transferred to an elected government. In a dramatic turnout Omar Torjio's son became president. The president Martines won the election after him allegedly with the support of the drug cartels and mysterious Chinese businessmen. Panama has quite influential Chinese, Indian and Arab business communities who want to make Panama city a counter force to Miami in the Americas, possibly a dream, but a dream worth it.
To make Panama's growth vigorous President Martines wants to expand the Panama Canal. There are proposals to dig canal via Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The opening of Northern Route by the Arctic could greatly reduce Panama Canal's importance. It is not as strategic as the Suez Canal. That is why the present Panamanian government wants to expand it to make it strategically important.
President Martines, a businessman is a free marketer. He does not want to dig the canal by the government. Panama Canal is run by the Panama Canal Authority, an autonomous body on a commercial basis. The Panama Canal Authority has signed an agreement with the Gruppo Unido por La Canal to expand it at the cost of 5.2 billion dollars. Earlier a Chinese company had tried to do it. Panama is ironically one of the few countries that maintain diplomatic relation with Taipeh instead of Beijing. The growing friendship between Taiwan and the mainland has made it irrelevant. But the Chinese business community in Panama is an entity of its own. It is not known how much stake they have in Gruppo Unido, but Italians and Spaniards are playing a great role giving the enterprise a distinct Latin character. What is interesting is that the Americans have been kept out. This reflects one of President Martine's independent characteristics that has brought him closer to Sweden which too, now has a conservative government. Swedish media frequently advertises Panama as a success story, side by side with Dubai, Singapore and Doha.
But it is not correct generalization. Under President Martines the white Panamanians who constitute only ten per cent of the population have made great stride in economic, social and political life. Racial barrier has taken an ugly face. Just fifteen kilometres from the high rise buildings of Panama city live the aborigines people in their thatched cottages. They still live in primitive lifestyle. President Martines wants to keep them that way showing the great glory of Panama's past. The million dollar tourist industry uses them to their profit.
We do not know whether President Martines will survive the next election. The workers, the indigenous all are getting restive. Despite his pretension of being a nationalist most intellectuals consider him as a strategic stooge of USA. According to them the expanded canal will serve USA's cause as the detaining of a North Korean ship. Panama can not remain aloof from the main currents of Latin American history. It started with colonization, then decolonization and the present phase is post colonialism. In the post colonial phase the ethnic minorities are playing a greater role in the global power centre USA.
Despite a black president white USA remains the predominant force in global dominance. This demands the US management of the canal operation for its security need.
But they are human beings with hopes and aspiration that has been thwarted by Whiteman's ascend on the Western hemisphere. They survived the digging of the canal. Expansion of the canal is likely to take some of their land. But they have learned to survive last five hundred years.
In a dramatic development President Maduro of Venezuela has broken off diplomatic relations with Panama for subversion in his country in consort with USA. He has frozen all Panamanian assets in Venezuela. This could be a big shock to the expansion of the canal.
Panama Canal to be expanded
Nehal Adil | Published: March 22, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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