The Thousand Days War
The Thousand Days War (1899–1902) was one of the many armed struggles between the Liberal and Conservative Parties which devastated Colombia and Panama during the 19th century. This last civil war ended with the signature of the "Treaty of Wisconsin". However, the Liberal leader Victoriano Lorenzo refused to accept the terms of the agreement and was executed on May 15, 1903.
On July 25, 1903, the headquarters of the Panamanian newspaper "El Lápiz" were assaulted by orders of the military commander for Panama General José Vásquez Cobo, brother of the then Colombian Minister of War, as a retaliation for the publication of a detailed article narrating the execution and protests in Panama. This event damaged the trust of Panamanian liberals in the Conservative government based in Bogotá, and they later joined the separatist movement.
In 1903, the United States and Colombia signed the Hay-Herran Treaty to finalize the construction of the Panama Canal but the process was not achieved because the Colombian congress rejected the measure (which Colombia had proposed) on August 12, 1903. The United States then moved to support the separatist movement in Panama to gain control over the remnants of the French attempt at building a canal.
Read more about this topic: Separation Of Panama From Colombia
Famous quotes containing the words thousand, days and/or war:
“Your mouth, dear child, is envied of the bees.”
—Unknown. The Thousand and One Nights.
AWP. Anthology of World Poetry, An. Mark Van Doren, ed. (Rev. and enl. Ed., 1936)
“to slam the door on all the days she’ll stay the same
and never ask why and never think who to ask,
to slam the door and rip off her orange blouse.
Father, father, I wish I were dead.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“But no, he only said,
“Well, there’s the storm. That says I must go on.
That wants me as a war might if it came.
Ask any man.””
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)