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Hi, everyone. This is Carmen and Christina and this is
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Estodia's Unknown, a podcast where we talk about Latin American history.
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Sometimes it's horrible and deals with heavy topics like racism, corruption,
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and genocide. But more than that, it's also about resistance,
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power and community. And sorry about last week there was
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a new episode because I was behind on my notes.
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But we are back today, BB and we we're continuing
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our topic of the Panama Canal. So shall we get
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into it? Do you have anything you want to talk
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about before? No? No, do you have a little reminder
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of where we were? Cool? Then? No, I'm good, Okay, cool.
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So last episode we talked about the underlying eugenus and
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colonial beliefs behind the US obtaining and building the Panama Canal,
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and today we'll be talking more about the three main
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periods of the development of the canal from nineteen oh
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four to nineteen fifteen, which ultimately ended in the depopulation
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of the zone towns. And that's kind of what I
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left off at saying last time to about these three periods. Yes, anyway,
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let's get into it. So, between nineteen oh four and
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nineteen oh seven, many zone towns went from being Panamanian
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municipalities to American municipalities. Some US officials believed that they
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could create a quote model of American government in the
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heart of Central America as an object lesson to South
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and Central American republics. Okay, but again, right, think that's
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not surprising at all. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And there'll be
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a lot of that today. So this goes back to
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the racisabilize of the US that won republics in Latin
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America needed lessons from them because they're so stupid right
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about how to run their governments. And two, that their
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systems of government were not modern. And let's remind yourselves
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that many Latin American countries were already republics for a
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longer time than the US, and that they outlawed slavery
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way before the US, which again, like we said last episode,
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is the first sign of a humane and respectful society, right,
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And they also adopted manhood suffrage way before the US,
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and still the US believed themselves to be more modern.
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The second chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission or the ICC,
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and this again reminder, was the American Administration Commission that
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oversaw the construction of the Panama Canal. So the chairman
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of the ICC, Theodore P. Sean and anyone with that
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name Theodore is a red flag, right, Yes, of course
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Theodore Roosevelt. Yes, he said that the US had to
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bring a modern development into existence in a tropical wilderness
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afflicted by deadly fews and pestilents, and a practically uninhabitable area.
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And he was referring to Panama. Okay, mind you, people
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have been living there forever. People have been habitating here. Yeah,
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people areats there, are inhabitants and have been for years. Yeah.
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And the transition period from Panamanian municipalities under the control
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of Colombia to US municipalities was initially messy and raised
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in many questions like what would happened to pending lawsuits
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and what town residents participate in Panama's elections. The first
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governors of the Zone had experienced in colonization since they
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had governed and worked in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the
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Philippines already, like, oh, look at that colonizing there. Yeah. Wow.
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In total, five American municipalities were created in the Zone area,
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these being Gorgona, Buenavista and Peralo and Conne and Crystobal,
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and three of these already had existed under Columbia, and
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these were Goguana, Bonavista, and Perlor. And initially, the US
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recognized the temporary authority of the zone mayors and the
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ICC gave a Zone municipalities extensive rights like for example,
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in August nineteen oh four, the zone municipalities had rights
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to seize private property for public utility, which was similar
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to the rights of the zone government, so not any
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different right. A month later, the September nineteen oh four
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Municipal Government Act was enacted, and this showed that early
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on that initially the ICC officials dot these towns would
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be populated by both Panamanians and US citizens and both
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yeah and both Spanish and English would be the official languages. Okay,
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so their initial intent was not to depopulate all the No,
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not in the beginning, right. The new laws required all
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municipal officers to be able to intelligently speak, read, and
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write the Spanish or English language, to be at least
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twenty five years old and resident of the municipality. The
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laws also showed that the ICC initially planned for the
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Zone towns to be pretty much the same as other
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Panamanian towns, since the Act described licensing and taxing around cockfighting, restaurants, katina's,
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lodging houses, public dance houses, and more kinds of private businesses.
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And of course this wouldn't last. Eventually these towns would
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become company towns, American towns within Panama in the zone
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where there was no alcohol, no bars, fume. Yeah, yeah,
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basically Leyman Puritan, Yeah, very purtin, like you know how
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Americans can get yeah, what their fucking fake morals, Like, oh,
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alcohol is wrong, but enslaving someone is right exactly. So,
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like I mentioned before, there were some legal questions about
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jurisdiction issues. The Pandemanian Secondary of State domas Arias wanted
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the new zone courts to handle all pending in new
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legal cases from the zone towns, and many judges did,
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but others didn't agree. In one instance, a judge refused
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to touch a case until he received fur their clarification,
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and this case ended up with Panama's Attorney General, who
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was supposed to provide clarification, and the Attorney General argued
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that Panama had not lost jurisdiction over court cases and
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the US only had jurisdiction over matters relating to the canal,
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which was similar to what we talked about last time
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with the port. The fight about the ports, Yes, and
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this case went all the way to Banama Supreme Court,
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but they refused to make a decision, saying it was
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an issue for the Ministry of Foreign Relations, and ultimately
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the Ministry of Foreign Relations held the view that the
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nineteen o three treaty restricted the US to the judicial
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rights over the Zone Panama gave the US jurisdiction only
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over daily issues that might arise from the development of
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the canal, and the end this wouldn't even matter because
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these municipalities were disbanded and the towns eventually depopulated, and
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the US came to roll over the zone and they
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just did whatever they wanted until I think the seventies
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or sixties, which I mean we'll get into at the end.
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I'll be probably the last seventies, I think, but yeah, yeah,
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I think it was the seventies. Other issues had to
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do with electoral rights of Panamanians living in Zone towns.
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Before the US took over the control of the zone,
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several municipal districts located in Gorgona and Berralo Buenavisa and
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Gatun used to participate in national elections, but now that
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the residents found themselves within the US territory, things changed.
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Now the Zone government appointed the Alcaldes and Pannamanians could
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only exercise their political rights outside of the zone. Wow,
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in municipalities outside of the zone municipal How many times
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did I say this? Stand word and areas outside of
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the zone, municipal politics were important and outside of the
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zone Pandemanians had the right to elect their municipal council.
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So while the US and the Zone officials were purporting
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to bring modern politics to Panama, they actually caused Panamanians
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within the zone to lose their electoral rights. When the
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municipalities took away, they took away their political rights. Yeah,
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because these municipalities became administrative districts with the i c
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C electing all the not even electing, like just appointing,
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appointing authorities and all that. Yeah. Of course they did though,
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right like and their wish to supposedly bring modern government
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to this place that already had governments and systems. But
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because they're dumb and not white, because they think they
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know better, Yeah, they took away things that they had
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already been doing right, good old USA, Yes, classic USA move.
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And this brings us to the ICC and the Zones
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Sanitation era. Between nineteen oh four and nineteen twelve, the
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ICC tried to regulate and organize the zone and this
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included laying out street lines and sidewalks, building new housing
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due to the huge amount of workers needed for the
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development of the canal, and of course, in the authorities view,
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bringing sanitation to the tropics. In early health report said quote,
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the Isthmus of Panama has for years been known as
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the filthiest and unhealthiest place on earth. Wow, the way
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that I dropped my job when I wear that. Yeah, Like,
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how can you refer to a place like this? But
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of course of course they did. Yeah. It reminds me
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of Trump's stupid ass quote when you called Garbageland or something. Yeah,
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a floating in garbage. Oh that was the comedian Han,
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not Trump. That was a comedian, but back comedian, a
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right quote comedian. Uh No, back in in Trump's first
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presidency when he was calling like while He's like saying, like, oh,
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why don't they send people from these countries instead of
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these trash countries? And in referring to these shithole countries, right,
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that's what he said. Yeah, yeah, so it's very very
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akin to that. Yeah, and it just shows you that
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these these beliefs, they don't die, they just grow. Yeah. Yeah.
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Doctor whim Gorgis was in charge of sanitation and he
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was considered a pioneer in mosquito research and credited as
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the person who eradicated yellow fever in Havana, Goba. The
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icy Cs, I just assume people knew where that is,
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just in case I don't know. I don't know, I
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don't know know. The ic ces sent decision strategy came
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from a combination of nineteenth century miasthma theories about swamps
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and tropical mud and the then newer grum theory and
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the Lady's discoveries about the role of mosquitoes in the
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transmission of malaria and yellow fever. Just as a reminder
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that my asthma theory was the belief that diseases were
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caused by a poisonous form of air called my asthma,
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and so many believe that disease in Banama was caused
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by the bad fumes coming from tropical swamps, mud and filth,
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which of course, now we know that stupid. Yeah, now
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we know those liked like, yeah, it looks some made
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up shit, you know, like the made up ship by
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white people. Yeah, some guy named Robert Tomes. And the
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reason I wrote some guys because like I read in
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the book about whatever his role was, and then I
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didn't like mark that spot. So so it's gone. So
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now I don't know. Yeah some guy, Yeah, some guy.
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I don't know. I don't Robert. He described the city
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of Cologne as a dirty and unsanitary settlement over marshy
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pools corrupt with decaine matter. So that was the kind
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of thought you know that that was around back then. Yeah,
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dumb again. Yeah. So because of these theories and science,
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the ICC thought it was important to make sure there
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was enough distance between buildings, that houses had to be
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three feet above the ground and distant enough from mud,
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and that American buildings had to be a certain distance
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between local or native buildings, that distance being a thousand feet. Wow.
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And to no one's surprise, this led to distinctions between
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Americans and natives and only led to greater separation. So essentially,
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segregation is what happened. Right, Oh my god, look at
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them going to a country that's not theirs and then
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segregating the locals. What a surprise. Yeah, yeah, al turnives
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developments that we did not foresee. I didn't see that coming. Yeah,
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we didn't. Yeah. This practice of separating housing from natives
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or indigenous people, locals right to the area, and colonizers
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was not new, and it went back to the days
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of the British colonies in Asia and Africa, who were
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considered it essential to separate native neighborhoods from white neighborhoods
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in order to save white colonials from contagious diseases. The ICC,
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like the British colonizers, referred to all kinds of Panamanian
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housing as huts, even when local housing was constructed in
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similar ways to like America, even though it looks almost
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the same, and it was like yes, yeah, yeah, God,
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And this is important to know because by referring to
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all housing as huts, then that justified their practices as saying, oh,
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these are primitive, gross discussing houses that we can't be
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near too. Yeah yeah, And it also justified their view
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that the natives and locals were a part of the
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disease tropical landscape, meaning like they viewed the natives, the
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indigenous people of the area of Panama, the same way
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they viewed the gross, dirty mud. Yeah right, like as
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vectors of disease. There's no fixings. They are dirty and gross,
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just like this dirty, gross swamp. And they are also
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spreading disease just like they're the problem. Yeaeah they not us,
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they right, And this led to racialized health practices, which
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was so widespread. They viewed dirty Mexicans in the United
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States the same as the dirty Panamanians and the Panama
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Canal zone. Right, And let's talk a bit about doctor
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William Gorgius since I mentioned him but didn't really describe
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him as much. I mean, we're gonna talk about the
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rice on the behind his work more than actually his work,
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because you know that's more important. Yes, Gorgaz described his
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work in Latin America as quote the conquest of the
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tropics for the white race. Okay, okay, all of that wrong?
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Oh my god, wow, you know, William, what the fuck? Gourias,
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Come on, Gourias, we need to talk. Goryas planned to
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manage or eradicate malaria and yellow fever involved destroying mosquito
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breeding habitats installing nets and screens and dispensing what you like.
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The powder pronounces quinine, maybe quinyane. I'm not sure. It's
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just a medicine to treat malaria. Yeah, and to didn't
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really work, and malaria and yellow fever continue to run
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a rampant So the US decided to amp up their
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sanitation efforts and Gorgez believed quote the spread of civilization
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is supposed to bring with it not only good ruling
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and justice, but also increase health and happiness. Apart from
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this moral aspect, it seems obvious from a business point
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of view that the opening up of the resources of
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an unhealthy country will never be a full success until
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that country is rendered healthy. Wow. Yeah, needless to say it.
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And we mentioned already that locals were considered unhealthy, and
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in turn this justified the displacement of locals living in
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tropical regions. A popular Western belief of the time was
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that white people were more suited to the tropics than black, brown,
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and indigenous people. That's so funny because the sun hates them. Okay, okay, yes,