Editorial cartoon in the NYT, 1903.

Donald Trump and his cohorts want to take back the Panama Canal. According to Trump and those who support this desire, this is because China controls the canal. To begin, the second sentence is a bald-faced lie used to justify a narrative that is rampant with lies. According to NBC News, dated January 23, 2025, and other sources, China doesn’t control the canal or its operations. Two private corporations based in Hong Kong operate ports on each end of the canal. The ports are used to dock ships and to load and unload cargo. Several corporations from different nations lease and operate similar ports on the canal. The canal is operated by Panama, just as it has been since 1999, when it was returned to Panama after years of negotiations with the United States. The return of the canal was strongly opposed by the rightwing in the US. In fact, Ronald Reagan had made it an issue during his reign in the White House, donning his best Teddy Roosevelt makeup and riding rough through the nation of Colombia, killing natives to create the country of Panama.

That’s right. Washington created Panama. It had been part of Colombia—a nation created by another invader, Spain. After other attempts to build a canal that would shorten trade routes for the US and other ships had failed, including one across Nicaragua, a scheme was hatched to build one across the isthmus that became Panama. The first problem faced by the schemers in DC was to get the land. Colombia did not want to give it up. Now, according to most US history books, there were some Colombians who didn’t want to be part of Colombia anymore and wanted secession and independence. Coincidentally, the land they wanted for their new nation was where the schemers to the north wanted to build their canal. Let me make it clear. The secessionists were not indigenous people; they, too, were colonizers. So, like most of the history of the Americas after Columbus landed, the colonial settlers were dealing with other........

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