Ethnicity: About 85% of the population are of mixed descent, either mestizo (Amerindian and European) or mulatto (African and European). About 10% are of wholly European (mainly Spanish) descent. There are Amerindian and African-descended
minorities.
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Capital: Panamá (often called Panama City in English)
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Legislature: Panama has a unicameral legislature, the Legislative Assembly (Asamblea Legislativa), which has 71 members elected for five-year terms from single-member and multi-member constituencies.
Electoral authority: The Electoral Tribunal of Panama administers national elections
Freedom House rating:
Political Rights 1, Civil Liberties 2
Political history
Colombus visited the coast of what is now Panama in 1501. In 1513 Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the isthmus and discovered the Pacific Ocean. Panama came under Spanish administration in 1538 and from 1567 it was part of the Viceroyalty of Peru. The collapse of Spanish rule in Peru and its territories led to a Panamanian declaration of independence in 1821. The Panamanians decided to become part of the Republic of Gran Colombia. They soon regretted this decision, and there were several attempts to separate the isthmus from Colombia.
European and American investors were interested in building a canal across the isthmus from the 1840s. When a European attempt to do so ended in bankruptcy in 1889, the Americans moved in, and fostered a Panamanian secession movement to avoid Colombia's unending civil strife. In November 1903 Panama seceded from Colombia and became in effect an American protectorate. Under the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty the United States annexed the Panama Canal Zone and gained the right to intervene in Panamanian affairs if the security of the Canal Zone was threatened. The canal was completed in 1914.
Independent Panama has been plagued by instability and frequent American interventions in its affairs, although the formal right of intervention was renounced in 1936. Panamanian politics was dominated for many years by Arnulfo Arias Madrid, a nationalist who was President three times between 1940 and 1968. Nationalist demands centred on the return of the Canal Zone to Panama. Exploitation of this issue allowed the army commander Omar Torrijos Herrera to seize power in 1968 and retain it until 1981. In 1977 a new treaty restored Panamanian sovereignty over the Canal Zone, although Panama did not take over running the canal itself until 2000.
Torrijos was succeeded as army boss and de facto ruler by Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno in 1983. Through the 1980s Noriega manipulated elections, ruling Panama through puppet presidents. In December 1989, in the course of protests over election rigging, a US Marine was killed by Panamanian soldiers. The United States then invaded the country and removed Noriega from power. Guillermo Endara Galimany, elected to the presidency in 1989 but prevented by Noriega from taking office, took power. Since then democratic government has been maintained, and in 1994 the army was abolished. In 1999 Mireya Moscoso de Gruber, widow of Arnulfo Arias, was elected president.
Panamanian political parties are grouped in three coalitions. The conservative-nationalist Union for Panama includes President Moscoso's Arnulfist Party, the Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement, the Democratic Party and the National Renewal Movement, while the left-wing New Nation coalition icludes the Revolutionary Democratic Party, the Solidarity Party and the
National Liberal Party. The Opposition Action coaltion includes the Christian Democratic Party and the Civil Renewal Party.
European and American investors were interested in building a canal across the isthmus from the 1840s. When a European attempt to do so ended in bankruptcy in 1889, the Americans moved in, and fostered a Panamanian secession movement to avoid Colombia's unending civil strife. In November 1903 Panama seceded from Colombia and became in effect an American protectorate. Under the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty the United States annexed the Panama Canal Zone and gained the right to intervene in Panamanian affairs if the security of the Canal Zone was threatened. The canal was completed in 1914.
Independent Panama has been plagued by instability and frequent American interventions in its affairs, although the formal right of intervention was renounced in 1936. Panamanian politics was dominated for many years by Arnulfo Arias Madrid, a nationalist who was President three times between 1940 and 1968. Nationalist demands centred on the return of the Canal Zone to Panama. Exploitation of this issue allowed the army commander Omar Torrijos Herrera to seize power in 1968 and retain it until 1981. In 1977 a new treaty restored Panamanian sovereignty over the Canal Zone, although Panama did not take over running the canal itself until 2000.
Torrijos was succeeded as army boss and de facto ruler by Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno in 1983. Through the 1980s Noriega manipulated elections, ruling Panama through puppet presidents. In December 1989, in the course of protests over election rigging, a US Marine was killed by Panamanian soldiers. The United States then invaded the country and removed Noriega from power. Guillermo Endara Galimany, elected to the presidency in 1989 but prevented by Noriega from taking office, took power. Since then democratic government has been maintained, and in 1994 the army was abolished. In 1999 Mireya Moscoso de Gruber, widow of Arnulfo Arias, was elected president.
Panamanian political parties are grouped in three coalitions. The conservative-nationalist Union for Panama includes President Moscoso's Arnulfist Party, the Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement, the Democratic Party and the National Renewal Movement, while the left-wing New Nation coalition icludes the Revolutionary Democratic Party, the Solidarity Party and the National Liberal Party. The Opposition Action coaltion includes the Christian Democratic Party and the Civil Renewal Party.