Panama

(see also Central America General , US & Central America & Colombia)

Basics:

CIA World Factbook. Includes map.

New Internationalist Profile

UN Development Program, Human Development Indicators.

World Guide.

On the Web: Articles

Issue of US Ordnance Shadows New Panama Bridge. Chris Kraul, LA Times (6/27/05). Unexploded ordnance from US bombing & artillery ranges in old Canal Zone an ongoing threat to Panamanians.

Endara Could Squeeze Out a Win. Gilbert Bradshaw, Council on Hemispheric Affairs (4/30/04). Background to 2004 presidential elections.

On the Web: Specialized Sites

Ibermundo Panama.

Panama News.

Resource Center of the Americas.

WWW Virtual Library.

In the Library: Articles:

Anderson, Joan B. "From Christian base community to cooperative: the case of Chorrillo, Panama," Review of Latin American Studies 1,2 (1988):91-101.

Anguizola, Gustavo. "Negroes in the building of the Panama Canal," Phylon 29,4 (1968):351-59.

Arbena, Joseph. "Colombian reactions to the independence of Panama," The Americas 33,1 (jul 1976):130-48.

Barrow, Robert M. "The first Panama Canal crisis, 1904," Caribbean Studies 5,4 (jan 1966):12-28.

Black, Jan K. "The Canal and the Caribbean," in Millet & Will (eds.) The Restless Caribbean (NY, 1979), 90-102.

Bossert, Thomas J. "Panama," in M. Blachman et al (eds.) Confronting Revolution (NY, 1986), pp. 183-205.

Bourgois, Philippe. "Hazardous pesticides in Panama: Guaymí laborers at risk," Cultural Survival Quarterly 9,4 (1985):37-38.

Chapin, Mac. "The silent jungle: ecotourism among the Kuna Indians of Panama," Cultural Survival Quarterly 14,1 (1990):42-45.

Cohen-Degovia, Dr. Guillermo. "A little Hiroshima in Panamá [interview]," Monthly Review 43,2 (6/91):40-44. A psychotherapist describes post-traumatic stress resulting from US bombing.

Collett, Merrill. "Ebb & flow in Panama," Massachusetts Review 27,3-4 (fall-win 1986):629-42.

Conniff, Michael L. "George Westerman: a Barbadian descendent in Panama," in W. Beezley & J. Ewell (eds.) The Human Tradition in Latin America: The 20th C. (Wilmington DE, 1987), pp. 141-50.

Cooper, Marc. "The press & the Panama invasion," Nation (6/18/90):50-54.

Gandasequi, Marco A. "The Panama Canal & the Central American crisis," Contemporary Marxism 8 (spr 1984):94-100.

Gatell, Frank O. "The Canal in retrospect: some Panamanian & Colombian views," The Americas 15,1 (1958):23-36.

Gjording, Chris N. "The Cerro Colorado copper project & the Guaymí Indians of Panama," Cultural Survival Quarterly 3 (1981).

Guillermoprieto, Alma. article on Panama City in 1992 in her The Heart that Bleeds. Latin America Now (NY, 1994).

Herlihy, Peter H. "Indians & rainforest collide: the cultural parks of Darien," Cultural Survival Quarterly 10,3 (1986):57-61.

__________. "Panama's quiet revolution: Comarca homelands & Indian rights," Cultural Survival Quarterly 12,3 (1989):17-24.

Herrera, Francisco. "Politización de la población indígena en Panamá," América Indígena 32,2
(4-6/72):585-96.

Jaeger, Frances. "La novela canalera como acto contestatario de la nación panameña," Istmo 7 (2003).

Jaen, Bernardo. "Panama: the history & struggle of the Guaymí people," International Working Group on Indigenous Affairs, Newsletter 51/52 (10-12/87):78.

Joly, Luz Graciela. "The conversion of rainforests to pastures in Panama," in Schumann et al. (eds.) The Human Ecology of the Rainforest (Boulder, 1988).

Krauze, Enrique. "Panama: Operación Ayuda Fraternal, donde con malicia y fingimiento se habla con verdad del infierno que los norteamericanos crearon en la zona del Istmo," en sus Textos heréticos (México, 1992), pp. 139-44.

Leonard, Thomas M. "U.S. perception of Panamanian politics, 1944-1949," Journal of Third World Studies 5,1 (fall 1988):112-38.

Lindsay-Poland, John. Emperors in the Jungle (Durham,NC: Duke, 2003). US invasion of Panama.

Manduley, Julio. "Panama: dependent capitalism & beyond," Latin American Perspectives 7,2-3 (spr-sum 80):57-74.

May, J.M. & D.L. Mclellan. "The Republic of Panama," in their The Ecology of Malnutrition in Mexico & Central America (NY, 1972), pp. 335-82.

McCarthy, Colman. “Just guts?” Other Side (September-October, 1990):63.

Meisler, Stanley. "Panama Canal," Atlantic (6/76):4-12.

Moore, Alexander. "From Council to Legislature: Democracy, parliamentarianism & the San Blas Cuna," American Anthropologist 86,1 (1984):28-42.

Noriega, Manuel A. "National dignity is not for sale," World Marxist Review 32 (6/89):76-77.

Opazo, Andrés & David Smith. "Decadencia populista, protesta popular y comunidades eclesiales de base en Panamá," Estudios Sociales Centroamericanos 33 (9-12/82):249-72.

Pearcy, Thomas L. "Panama's Generation of '31: patriots, praetorians & a decade of discord," Hispanic American Historical Review 76,4 (11/96):691-720.

Priestley, George. "Squatters, oligarchs & soldiers in San Miguelito," in Edel & Hellman (eds.) Cities in Crisis (NY, 1989).

__________. "Panama: obstacles to democracy & sovereignty," Radical History Review 48 (fall 1990): 88-110.

Pugliese, David. "Panama: bombs on the beach," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 58,4 (7-8/2002):55-60. Disposal of bombs in Panama during 1940s.

Ropp, Steve C. "Military reformism in Panama: new directions or old inclinations?" Caribbean Studies 12 (10/72):45-63.

__________. "Leadership & political transformation in Panama: two levels of regime crisis," in Ropp & Morris (eds.) Central America: Crisis & Adaptation (Albuquerque: U. of New Mexico, 1984), pp. 227-56.

__________. "Panama's struggle for democracy," Journal of Third World Studies 5,1 (spr 88):114-23.

__________. "What have we learned from the Noriega crisis?" Latin American Research Review 28,3 (1993):189-96.

Rogers, Cornish. "Americans in Panama: a changing life style?" Christian Century 91,17 (5/1/74):467-8.

Rosenfeld, Stephen. "The Panama negotiations: a close-run thing," Foreign Affairs 54,1 (10/75):1-12.

Rudolf, Gloria. "Delegates of the Word & the Sleeping Giant: religion as interclass politics in a rural Panamanian community," Urban Anthropology 17 (win 88):323-50.

Tangherlini, Anne E. & Andrew L. Young. "Panama: Kuna Yala, unity & change," International Working Group on Indigenous Affairs Newsletter 50 (7/87):105-20.

Tate, Mercer O. & Edward Allow. "The proposed new treaties for the Panama Canal," International Affairs 45,2 (4/69):269-78.

Vaughan, Jack H. "A Latin American Vietnam," Washington Monthly 5,8 (10/73):30-38.

Westerman, George W. "School segregation on the Panama Canal Zone," Phylon 15,3 (1954):276-88.

In the Library: Non-Fiction Books:

Barry, Tom & John Lindsay-Poland with Marco Gandásegui & Peter Simonson. Inside Panama: The Essential Guide to its Politics, Economy, & Society (Albuquerque: Resource Center, 1995).

Biesanz, John & Mavis. People of Panama (NY, 1955).

Bort, John R. & Mary W. Helms. Panama in Transition: Local Reactions to Development Policies (Columbia MO, 1983).

Bravo, Francisco. The Parish of San Miguelito in Panama (Cuernavaca, 1966). Site of first parish work experiments (1963-66) that led to the development of Latin America's Base Christian Communities. Bombed during US invasion of 1989.

Conniff, Michael L. Black Labor on a White Canal. Panama, 1903-1981 (Pittsburgh, 198?).

Díaz Espino, Ovidio. How Wall Street Created a Nation: J.P. Morgan, Teddy Roosevelt & the Panama Canal (NY: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003).

Dinges, John. Our Man in Panama: How General Noriega Used the U.S. (NY, 1990).

Ealy, Lawrence O. Yanqui Politics & the Isthmian Canal (Philadelphia, 1971).

EPICA Task Force. Panama: Sovereignty for a Land Divided (Washington, 1976).

Flanagan, M.E. Battle for Panama: Inside Operation Just Cause (Washington: Brassey's, 1993). Military history from official US point of view.

Franck, Harry A. Zone Policeman 88: A Close Range Study of the Panama Canal & Its Workers (NY, 1913).

Goldrich, Daniel. Radical Nationalism: The Political Orientations of Panamanian Law Students (Berkeley, 19??).

Greene, Graham. Getting to Know the General (NY, 1984). On Omar Torrijos.

Guevara Mann, Carlos. Panamanian Militarism: Historical Interpretation (Athens: Ohio U, 1996).

Hammond, Rolt & C.J. Lewin. The Panama Canal (London, 1966). Technical aspects.

Howarth, David. Panama: 400 Years of Dreams & Cruelties (NY, 1966).

Howe, James. The Kuna Gathering: Contemporary Village Politics in Panamá (Austin, 1986).

__________. A People Who Would Not Kneel: Panama, the US & the San Blas Kuna (Washington DC, 1998).

Independent Commission of Inquiry on the US Invasion of Panama. The US Invasion of Panama: Operation "Just Cause" (South Hadley MA: South End, 1990).

Jorden, William J. Panama Odyssey (Austin, 1984).

Kempe, Frederick. Divorcing the Dictator: America's Bungled Affair with Noriega (NY, 1990).

Koster, R.M. & Guillermo Sánchez Borbón. In the Time of the Tyrants. Panama, 1968-90 (NY, 1990).

LaFeber, Walter. The Panama Canal: The Crisis in Historical Perspective [1979] (rev ed.; NY: Oxford, 1989).

Lamont, Beth & Corliss. Panama. Operation Injustice (NY, 1990).

Lindsay-Poland, John. Emperors in the Jungle: The Hidden History of the US in Panama (Durham NC: Duke, 2003). Panama since 1850s as proving-ground for US projects to tame tropical forests & people and achieve military & commercial objectives. Invaluable background for current events.

Liss, Sheldon R. The Canal: Aspects of US-Panamanian Relations (Notre Dame, 1975).

McCain, William D. The U.S. & the Republic of Panama (Durham NC, 1937).

McCullough, David. The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914 (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1977).

Major, John. Prize Possession: The US & the Panama Canal, 1903-1979 (NY, 1993).

Mellander, G.A. The U.S. in Panamanian Politics. The Intriguing Formative Years (Danville IL, 1971).

Moffett, George D. III The Limits of Victory. The Ratification of the Panama Canal Treaties (Ithaca: Cornell, 1985).

Nyrop, Richard (ed.) Panama: A Country Study (Washington, 1981). U.S. Army Handbook.

Pearcy, Thomas L. We Answer Only to God. Politics & the Military in Panama, 1903-1947 (Albuquerque: U. New Mexico, 1999).

Perkins, John. Confessions of an Economic Hitman: How the US Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2004). See for background to the assassination of Omar Torrijos.

Phillips Collazos, Sharon. Labor & Politics in Panama: The Torrijos Years (Boulder, 1991).

Ropp, Steve C. Panamanian Politics: from Guarded Nation to National Guard (NY, 1982).

Salvador, Mari Lyn (ed.) The Art of Being Kuna: Layers of Meaning among the Kuna of Panama (Berkeley: U. of California, 1997).

Scranton, Margaret E. The Noriega Years: US-Panamanian Relations, 1981-1990 (Boulder, 1991).

Soler, Ricaurte. Panama: Historia de una crisis (México, 1989).

Tice, Karin E. Kuna Crafts, Gender & the Global Economy (Austin, 1995).

Young, Philip D. Ngawbe. Tradition & Change among the Western Guaymí of Panama (Urbana: U. Illinois, 1971).

In the Library: Fiction

Boyd, Bill. Panama: A Novel (Sterling VA: Capital, 1999). On building of Panama Canal.

Changmarín. Nochebuena mala: invasión yanqui a Panamá, diciembre de 1989. Cuentos que no son cuentos (Panamá: Fundación Omar Torrijos Herrera, 1995). 1989 invasion.

Chuez, Enrique. Operación Causa Justa: la larga noche de la invasión (Panamá: Cela, 1991). 1989 invasion.

Correa, Raúl. I Don't Know But I've Been Told (NY: HarperCollins, 2002).

Díaz Herrera, Roberto. Panamá: ¿apocalípsis o génesis? (Panamá: Portobelo, 1996).

Franco, José. Las luciérnagas de la muerte (Panamá: CELA, 1992). 1989 invasion.

Jaramillo Levi, Enrique (ed.) When New Flowers Bloomed: Short Stories by Women Writers from Costa Rica & Panama (Pittsburgh: Latin American Literary Review, 1991).

__________. Duplications & Other Stories (Pittsburgh: Latin American Literary Review, 1994).

Le Carré, John. The Tailor of Panama (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1996).

Miller, Carlos Ledson. Panama: A Novel (?: Xlibris, 1999).

Rodríguez, Mario Augusto. Negra pesadilla roja (Panamá: CELA, 1993).

__________. Los ultrajados: cuentos de la invasión y de otros tiempos (Panamá: Editorial Universitaria, 1994).

Saavedra E., José del C. Alma de Azuero (4th ed.; Panamá, 1997).

Terán, Aleyda y otros. El humo y la ceniza (Panamá, 1993). 1989 invasion.

Thomas, Jorge. Cicatrices inútiles (Panamá: Causadías, 1994). 1989 invasion.

__________. Con ardientes fuegos de gloria (Bogotá: Grijalbo, 1999).

Walrond, Eric. Tropic Death (NY: Collier, 1972). Stories about West Indian workers in Panamá.

Wright, Lawrence. God's Favorite: A Novel (NY: Simon & Schuster, 2000).

For Young Readers:

Markun, Patricia Maloney. The Little Painter of Sabana Grande (Columbus OH: SRA Macmillan/McGraw Hill, 1993).

CD & Audio:

Film & Video:

"The Panama Deception" [199?], dir. Barbara Trent.

"The Spirit of Kuna Yala" [1991], by Archipelago Films, 59m. From Filmakers' Library. Kuna people of San Blas Islands face globalized economy.