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:
“Out of the thousand writers huffing and puffing through movieland there are scarcely fifty men and women of wit or talent. The rest of the fraternity is deadwood. Yet, in a curious way, there is not much difference between the product of a good writer and a bad one. They both have to toe the same mark.”
—Ben Hecht (1893–1964)
“Cast your mind on other days
That we in coming days may be
Still the indomitable Irishry.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay,
And a pinnace, like a fluttered bird, came flying from far away:
‘Spanish ships of war at sea! we have sighted fifty-three!’”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)