- Panama Canal fence
The Panama Canal fence, also known as the "Fence of shame", [McPherson, Alan L. "From "Punks" To Geopoliticians: U.S. and Panamanian Teenagers and the 1964 Canal Zone Riots". The Americas - Volume 58, Number 3, January 2002, pp. 395-418 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-1615(200201)58%3A3%3C395%3AF%22TGUS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-O] ] [ The beginning of the end of the Panama Canal Zone, by Eric Jackson, 28 December 1999 [http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/47/354.html] ] is a
separation barrier built by theUS in thePanama Canal zone that divided theRepublic of Panama in two separate sections. Its construction started at the end of the 1950s when Panamanian students threatened with a "patriotic invasion". It was part of the scenario of a very important date in Panama history: theMartyr's Day onJanuary 9 ,1964 , when the flag desecration incident spread and angry crowds formed along the fenced border betweenPanama City and the Canal Zone. At several points demonstrators stormed into the zone, planting Panamanian flags and began to tear down the "Fence of shame" creating gaps in front of the US District Court and several other spots along the fence. Canal Zone police tear gassed them and several were shot for pulling or climbing on the fence.The opinion of most Panamanians (and most Latin Americans generally) about the fence in question was expressed a few days later by
Colombia 's ambassador to theOrganization of American States : "In Panama there exists today anotherBerlin Wall ." [La República, (Bogota, Colombia), January 20, 1964.]References
External links
* [http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/47/354.html The beginning of the end of the Panama Canal Zone]
* [http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/panama.canal/stories/history/ Troubled passageway: following conflict through the Panama Canal]
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