Pemisahan Panama dari Kolombia

Pemisahan Panama dari Kolombia diresmikan pada 3 November 1903 dengan didirikannya Republik Panama dari sebuah departemen Kolombia, yaitu Departemen Panama.

Permulaan

Sejak kemerdekaannya dari Spanyol pada 28 November, 1821 Panama bergabung dengan Kolombia Raya yang kemudian juga terdiri dari wilayah-wilayah yang kini menjadi bagian dari Kolombia, Venezuela, dan Ekuador.

Perjuangan politik antara kaum federalis dan kaum sentralis yang kemudian bermuara pada kemerdekaan dari Spanyol dihasilkan melalui perubahan status administratif dan jurisdiksional bagi Panama. Di bawah corak sentralisme, Panama didirikan sebagai Departemen Isthmus dan di bawah corak federalisme sebagai Negara Berdaulat Panama. Panama berupaya mendapatkan kemerdekaan pada era federalis hampir memperolehnya melalui kesempatan langka yang unik; 1831; antara 1840 dan 1841 ketika sebuah negara yang berusia pendek didirikan dan pada akhirnya selama Perang Seribu Hari (1899-1902), satu dari beberapa perjuangan bersenjata antara Liberal dan Partai Konservatif, yang menghancurkan Kolombia dan Panama pada abad ke-19. Perang saudara terakhir ini berakhir dengan ditandatanganinya "Traktat Wisconsin", tetapi pemimpin kaum liberal, Victoriano Lorenzo menolak terma-terma perjanjian dan tewas pada 15 Mei 1903.

Pada 25 Juli 1903 kantor pusat surat kabar Panama "El Lápiz" diserang tiba-tiba atas titah komandan militer Jenderal Panama, José Vásquez Cobo, saudara dari seseorang yang kemudian menjadi Menteri Perang Kolombia sebagai pembalasan atas diterbitkannya artikel yang terperinci yang memaparkan bermacam rupa pembunuhan dan protes di Panama. Peristiwa ini memengaruhi tingkat kepercayaan kaum liberal Panama terhadap pemerintahan konservatif yang berpusat di Bogota yang kemudian menggabungi pergerakan separatis.

Pada 1903, Amerika Serikat dan Kolombia menandatangani Traktat Hay-Herran untuk mengakhiri pembangunan Terusan Panama tetapi proses itu ditolak karena Kongres Kolombia tidak menyetujui usulan pada 12 Agustus 1903. Kejadian ini menyulut kemarahan kaum separatis dari Panama dan komponen bangsa Panama lainnya yang mengharapkan dibangunnya terusan. Amerika Serikat kemudian beralih menyokong pergerakan separatis Panama.

Pemisahan

Panamanian politician José Domingo De Obaldía was selected to become the Governor of the Isthmus office that he had previously held and was supported by the separatist movements. Another Panamanian politician named José Agustín Arango began to plan the revolution and separation. The separatists wanted to negotiate the construction of the Panama canal directly with the United States due to the negativity of the Colombian government.

The separatist network was formed by Arango, Dr. Manuel Amador Guerrero, General Nicanor de Obarrio, Ricardo Arias, Federico Boyd, Carlos Constantino Arosemena, Tomás Arias, Manuel Espinosa Batista and others. Manuel Amador Guerrero was in charge of traveling to the United States to get support for the separatist plan; he also gained the support of important Panamanian liberal leaders and the support of another military commander, Esteban Huertas.

With a strong support the separatist movement set November 1903 as the time for the separation. However, rumors in Colombia spread but the information managed by the government of Colombia indicated that Nicaragua was planning to invade a region of northern Panama known as the Calovébora. The Government deployed troops from the Tiradores Battalion from Barranquilla, and instructed the commander to take over the functions of the Governor of Panama José Domingo de Obaldía and General Esteban Huertas, who were not trusted by the government.

The Tiradores Battalion was led by Generals Juan Tovar and Ramón Amaya and arrived to the Panamanian city of Colón in the morning of November 3, 1903. The battalion suffered delays in its way to Panama City caused by the complicity of the Panama Railway authorities who sympathized with the separatist movement. Upon the arrival to Panama City troops were put under the command of Col. Eliseo Torres. General Esteban Huertas commander of the Colombia Battalion in Panama ordered the arrest of Tovar and his other officials.

An American vessel, the USS Nashville, commanded by John Hubbard, who had also helped to delay the disembarkation of the Colombian troops in Colón, continued to interfere with their mission by alleging that the "neutrality" of the railway had to be respected.

With the suppression of the troops the Revolutionary Junta proceeded to declare the separation of the Isthmus and later the independence with the declaration of the Republic of Panama. A naval squadron in the Bay of Panama was captured without resistance. Demetrio H. Brid the president of the Municipal Council of Panama became the de facto President of Panama appointing on November 4, 1903 a Provisional Government Junta that governed the country until February 1904 when the Constituent National Convention was established and elected Manuel Amador Guerrero as first constitutional president. News of the separation of Panama from Colombia arrived to Bogotá on November 6, 1903 due to a problem with the submarine cables.

Reaksi

On November 13, 1903 the United States formally recognized the Republic of Panama (After recognizing it unofficially on November 6 and 7). France did the same on November 14, 1903 followed by other 15 countries. On November 18, 1903 the United States Secretary of State John Hay and Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla signed the Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty. No Panamanians signed the treaty although Bunau-Varilla was present as the diplomatic representative of Panama (a role he had purchased through financial assistance to the rebels), despite the fact he had not lived in Panama for seventeen years before the incident, and he never returned. The treaty was later approved the Panamanian government and the Senate of the United States.

The ambassador of Colombia in Ecuador Emiliano Isaza was informed of the situation in Panama but did not inform his government to prevent a revolt in Bogotá. The government of Colombia then sent a diplomatic mission to Panama in an effort to make them reconsider by suggesting an approval by the senate of Colombia if they reconsidered the Hay-Herran Treaty instead of the Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty and also proposed making Panama City the capital of Colombia.

The mission met aboard the United States ship USS Mayflower with the Panamanian delegation formed by Constantino Arosemena, Tomás Arias and Eusebio A. Morales, which rejected all proposals. Colombia then sent later a delegation of prominent politicians and political figures; General Rafael Reyes, Pedro Nel Ospina, Jorge Holguín and Lucas Caballero who met with the same representative for Panama and Carlos A. Mendoza, Nicanor de Obarrio y Antonio Zubieta, this time aboard the United States ship USS Canada without reaching any consensus. Colombia recognized the sovereignty of Panama in 1921.

Pranala luar

Lihatlah: Mellander, Gustavo A.(1971) The United States in Panamanian Politics: The Intriguing Formative Years. Daville,Ill.:Interstate Publishers. OCLC 138568.

• (Spanyol) Luis Angel Arango Library - Separation of Panama
• (Spanyol) Demetrio H. Brid Presidente de facto de la República - 1903