How Wall Street Created a Nation: J. P. Morgan, Teddy Roosevelt, and the Panama Canal

After you read about the building of the Panama Canal this puts the political part into prospective.

Es un historia compleja, como lo son todas las historias reales. Hay que tomar en cuenta todos los ángulos, todas las circunstancias y a veces esto no es posible. Esto es lo que sucede en el relato de Ovidio Diaz Espino. Pero es que el no tiene la intención de mostrar todos los ángulos sino el que ha sido ocultado a través de los años, el de la importantísima participación de un grupo de especuladores y negociantes de Wall Street para lograr su objetivo que era el de vender la concesión colombiana para la construcción del canal Panamá concesión de la que eran propietarios debido a que la habían comprado a los accionistas franceses de la Compañía Nueva del Canal. A partir de ese deseo vehemente de venta (a los Estados Unidos de América) se produce una fuerza arrolladora, que no se puede detener y que utilizando muchas habilidades, deseos de los panameños e intrigas llevan al triunfo final que es la separación del Istmo. De eso se trata el relato del autor. Definitivamente que la participación panameña es tan fundamental que sin ella no se habría separado al Istmo pero lo que se cuestiona es la motivación de los proceres.

Being a Colombian, the explanations by local historians of how Panama was lost seems to be plagued with errors and gaps that mask the need to protect the image of certain Colombian leaders who are still described in elementary school history books as "patriots". In the case of Panama a similar situation occurs. The local Panamanian explanations exude heroic figures, intense fighting, tremendous leadership and planning skills, etc which are grossly exaggerated but appeal to local consumption. That is why this book allows for a small peek into some real history of how foreign decisions were made to build the canal, and how the locals played the cards that were dealt to them.

As a Panamaphile, I loved this intriguing book. Perhaps the most important revelation in this book, for those who already know a lot about Panama, is that, when Washington helped the isthmus to separate from Colombia, it did so not just to build the canal but also to help US investors make huge profits. This second motive has never clearly been revealed. Much of the $20 million that Uncle Sam paid to the French Company to purchase the rights to build the canal did not go to France but right back to wallstreet.

The "nation" is of course Panama and this well-written and informative book explains the different roles played by members of an especially interesting group who include Joseph Pulitzer, William Nelson Cromwell, Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, Phillipe Bunau-Varilla, Senator John Tyler Morgan, Senator Mark ("Dollar") Hanna, John Hay, and General Esteban Huertas. Espino traces a chronology of events which extends from 1501 when Christopher Columbus arrives in Panama until December 31, 1999, when the United States surrenders its control over the Panama Canal after ninety-six years. With all due respect to the profoundly important social, political, military, and financial implications of various decisions and consequences which Espino examines, I must say that the narrative often seemed to me to be one of a global or at least hemispheric soap opera. There are heroes and villains galore. Plots and sub-plots. Triumphs and failures. Betrayals. Countless opportunities either seized or forfeited. The book's title correctly suggests Wall Street's central influence (both positive and negative) on efforts to finance, design, build, maintain, and control the Panama Canal. To say "Wall Street" is to refer to human beings with resources sufficient to their ambitions. Specifically, Morgan who was involved with a syndicate to purchase the French Canal Company and fund Panama's independence. Hence the importance of Cromwell who founded a pre-eminent Wall Street Law firm and succeeded in defeating the Nicaraguan canal forces in the U.S. Congress led by Senator Morgan. Hence the importance of Pulitzer who (through his newspaper, the New York World) accused President Roosevelt of aiding and abetting the Wall Street syndicate's advocacy of the Panamanian revolution. American military forces were first stationed in Panama in 1857 and remained there to protect and defend the Isthmus until relinquishing authority on December 31, 1999, following a de-Americanization process initiated by President Carter. The "Zonians" will never forgive him for "depriving" them of their tropical paradise, just as so many British "colonials" never forgave Gandhi for leading India to independence. As for Panamanians, Epson reminds them (and the reader) of what Secretary Cass said (in 1855): "sovereignty has its duties as well as its rights." No country (including the United States) should ever be permitted "to close the gates of intercourse on the great highways of the world." In his concluding remarks, Epson observes: "Today, the canal is no longer the vital waterway it once was. Panama, however, continues to be the coveted territory imbued with the special mission because of its critical position as the crossroad of the Americas. The challenges facing the canal are no longer only the security of the waterway, but a forty-year-old civil war in Columbia; drug trafficking; corruption; money laundering; authoritarian regimes; and poor social conditions throughout Latin America." In some r