Title pic Title pic Title pic Title pic Title pic
Title pic Title pic Title pic Title pic Title pic
Title pic

dot

Taiwan and The Republic of Panama
line
 

dot

About this trip
line

News
 

 dot

About President Chen
line
 

 dot

Related links
line
 

 dot

Home
line
 

Title pic
Title pic

none pic
  Taiwan and The Republic of Panama

State of the Republic of Panama (October 2003)

1. State of Panama

History:
The Spanish first set foot in Panama in 1501. In 1513 they began to colonize the southern portion of the country and on November 10, 1821, Panama separated from Spain as a part of Colombia. On November 3, 1903, Panama declared its independence from Colombia.

On October 10, 1968, Panama faced a military coup, and the democratically elected president Arnulfo Arias was overthrown and replaced by military strongman Omar Torrijos Herrera. In 1981, Herrera perished in a plane crash and he was replaced by Ruben Dario Paredes, the nation’s security commander. In 1983, Manuel Antonio Noriega forced Paredes to resign and he himself became the country’s security commander. He in effect controlled the political and military arenas.

In May 1989, Guillermo Endara Galimany, a presidential candidate jointly supported by opposition parties, was given a clear mandate in a national election. Noriega, however, declared the election void and in September of that year, the United States implemented economic sanctions against Panama. On December 15, Noriego, in his capacity as Panama’s head of state, declared a state of war against America. On December 20, American troops invaded the country, overth