el 9 de enero (en Colon)

I did not realize until today that the mural I saw at the university in 2005 (above) was based on an actual photo from the 1964 riots (below)!!

prensa.com Panamá - Panorama

Here an an article in today's prensa about the martyrs in Colon. To be honest, I had no idea the first vicitims were in Colon or that the city had any role in the events of 9 de enero at all. I will contact this journalist and see if I too an interview some of the people she spoke with for the story.

I am embarassed that I lost track of the date. I am blaming that Costa Rica trip which put me out of sorts, but also my new computer. I have been busily trying to transfer files and programs from one to the other. The software migrations are the most taxing. All of the bookmarks and such-- is there a way to transfer those??

ok back to el 9 de enero, as this is one of the events I am asking people to describe.

CLICK HERE for a website that has pictures, quotes, and stories that ran in Life magazine in January 1964

In summary (and I admit I need to double check facts. this is off the top of my head here!):

The Canal Zone was a US territory embedded in the country of Panama and was always a point of contention. In 1947 the Filos-Hines treaty (which would have extended the use of 140 US military bases and sites used in WWII in Panama) was defeated in the national assembly. In 1958 Eisenhower passed a law (or decree?) that says the US and Panamanian flags can fly at certain locations. Cuban Revolution in 1959 makes US nervous and encites many in Latin America. On Panamanian independence day, 1959, a group of students attempt to march into the Zone to fly the Panamanian flag, but US troops turn them away. In 1963 Kennedy passed a law (or decree?) which gave Panama the right to fly their flag alongside the US flag at all non-military sites in the Canal Zone.

Well. After Kennedy was killed, the Canal Zone governor decided that rather than fly both flags, NO flags would be flown. Americans/Zonians did not like this and started flying the American flag at different locations in the Zone. On January 9th, a group of Panamanian students marched to Balboa High School in the Canal Zone with the intention fo flying the Panamanian flag. They were met by Zone students and police, pushed back and the flag was torn in the process. From this point, fights broke out, police open fired, word spread, more people, both Zonian and Panamanian, came to the scene. Basically, riots broke out. People were killed, property damaged-- for multiple days. In declassified documents, (which I have not read) they say extremely excessive force was used by Zonian police force. I have no trouble believing that, but I just wanted to qualify that I have not read that for myself, I just remember reading that from a secondary source.

In the end, 21 (?) Panamanians died (I have no idea if this includes the 3 from Colon) and 4 American soldiers were killed.

9 de enero= dia de los martires/day of the martyrs.

INTERESTING (or not): It is prohibited to sell alcohol on this day.

here is the link (click me!) for Ruben Blades' song about the event. Click here! for lyrics.