The main leaders of the Hantang Group in Panama are Liu Yun (Governor), Li Po (Security and Public Security), and Xu Yong (Civil Affairs and Industry and Commerce). In order to curb the ambitions of the United States for South America, it is necessary to control the Panama region and the dominance of the Panama Canal. Naturally, it is essential to understand its history.

Like the Suez Canal, the idea of the Panama Canal, as a choke point connecting the two oceans, has attracted the attention of people all over the world as soon as it was proposed. It took more than 400 years for the Ba Canal to be navigated, during which the people of Latin America and the European and American powers fought for centuries over the canal, just as the Egyptian people fought for sovereignty over the Suez Canal.

1. The Conception Stage: The Canal Dream of the Spanish Empire

Since Columbus discovered the New World in 1492, gold and silver in the Americas have attracted a large number of Spanish colonists to plunder one after another. Under the continuous expansion of the Spanish Empire, in addition to Brazil, all parts of Central and South America fell into the Spanish Empire

During this expansion, a Spanish colonist named Balboa, with the help of Native American Indian guides, traveled inland along the Isthmus of Panama in search of gold. However, he climbed over the mountains and over the swamps, but found no gold, and what appeared before him was another ocean, the Pacific Ocean.

This natural isthmus is not only a land bridge connecting North and South America, but also the narrowest part of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, with a width of only 61 kilometers from north to south. This astonishing discovery catapulted Balboa to fame.

Because before that, Spain's colonies in the Americas, especially the Pacific coast (such as Peru, etc.), the gold and silver produced by Spain, if they want to be transported back to Spain by water, there is only one way, to the south around Cape Horn in South America, and then north across the Atlantic Ocean to Spain proper, which is tantamount to circumnavigating half the world, the journey is far, and various risks are uncontrollable.

Therefore, after the discovery of the Isthmus of Panama, King Charles V of Spain immediately ordered a geographical exploration of the isthmus to find a suitable site to build a canal.

However, the Spanish Empire at that time was keen to intervene in the European Civil War, and did not have the financial resources and energy to carry out this plan, and only used cobblestones to pave a post road between the ridges in preparation for the future excavation of the isthmus

Beginning in the 18th century, the Spanish colonial government began geological exploration work one after another. At that time, a total of three sites were selected in the Spanish colonies in the Americas as alternative sites for the construction of canals. One is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico, the second is the Isthmus of Nicaragua, and the third is the Isthmus of Panama.

Geological surveys were carried out on an intermittent basis, but in 1814, when the Spanish crown finally decided to dig the canal, the Latin American War of Independence broke out.

The Colombian region where the Isthmus of Panama is located was liberated by Bolivar, and in 1819, Venezuela, Colombia and other places established a Gran Colombia Republic under the leadership of Bolivar, and Panama became a province of Colombia - Panama Region.

As a result, the Spaniards once shattered their dreams of Latin America and went out.

Second, the implementation phase: the French shot again

When Bolívar established the Republic of Gran Colombia, he was of course aware of the unique geographical advantages of the Isthmus of Panama and the economic and military benefits of the canal. The existence of this canal would allow the Republic of Gran Colombia to control the communication between the east and west banks of the Americas, thus becoming a truly strategic location.

As a result, in 1826, Bolívar convened an international conference in Panama to officially announce plans for the construction of the Panama Canal. However, before the canal could be built, Bolívar died, and the Republic of Gran Colombia, which had been founded by his personal prestige, collapsed.

In 1830, the region of Colombia, where the Isthmus of Panama is located, became independent and renamed the Republic of New Granada, and in 1846, the country was renamed the Republic of Colombia.

In accordance with Bolívar's legacy, the new government after independence sent a note to the countries of Europe and the United States on the construction of the canal, proposing to cooperate in the construction of the canal.

Due to the surging national liberation movements in Europe at this time, the class contradictions between the bourgeoisie and the conservative royal power in various countries continued to intensify, and uprisings broke out one after another, which eventually brewed into the revolution that swept across Europe in 1848. While the traditional European powers have fallen into crisis one after another, the United States, which is also in the Americas, has been able to hide behind and accelerate the development of its national power. Therefore, the proposal to build a canal received only an enthusiastic response from the United States.

At this time, the United States, which had completed its local expansion and integration, gradually showed its muscles to the world, especially after the Mexican-American War, the United States acquired a large area of land from Mexico, and gradually extended its influence to Latin America.

The United States, which has been extending its tentacles southward, is committed to turning Central and South America into a backyard, digging canals on the Isthmus of Panama and taking them for itself, which is of course the best way to control the countries of the Americas without bloodshed.

Faced with the embarrassment of only the United States responding, the anxious Colombian government had no choice but to sign a peace treaty with the United States, guaranteeing free access for American ships and citizens to and from the Isthmus of Panama in exchange for the opening of the canal. But Uncle Sam played Colombia this way. After the signing of the peace treaty, the United States immediately infiltrated the Panamanian region and dictated the internal affairs of Colombia, and even sent troops to capture the Panama railway station by force in the bloody conflict of 1856 on the grounds of protecting the foreign nationals, and took control of the Panama railway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

In 1865, after the end of the American Civil War, Uncle Sam finally had his hands free to deal with Colombia, which had been disobedient.

In 1870, the United States forced Colombia to sign a treaty stipulating that after the canal was built, American warships could pass through at any time, while the canal would be closed to the belligerents of the United States. This effectively tied Colombia militarily to the United States, and at a time when Latin American people's independence movements were in turmoil, such a treaty could easily provoke public outrage, and the treaty was rejected by the Colombian parliament.

At this time, the revolution on the European continent was settled, and the Colombian government decided to abandon illusions in the United States and instead seek the support of European powers. It was also in this year that the French succeeded in building and controlling the Suez Canal, a strategic passageway, and made a lot of money from the toll of the canal.

This undoubtedly makes Colombia, which lacks everything, extremely envious. Such a canal is equivalent to leaving a permanent cash cow for future generations, and it must be wholeed out.

With the Suez Canal ahead of its success, the French were naturally the best candidates to dig the new canal. As a result, French capital intervened, established the Panama Interoceanic Canal Company, and hired the famous Lesepse (also translated as Recebu)

There is no doubt that Lespes succeeded in digging and operating the Suez Canal, but he also seems to have been carried away by the great success of the Suez Canal, and directly copied the engineering design of the Suez Canal to the construction of the Panama Canal without carefully surveying the geology of the Isthmus of Panama. It does not consider that the Isthmus of Suez is located in a plain desert area, and the Isthmus of Panama is in a tropical jungle with mountain tops; Nor was it estimated that the earthwork required to excavate the Haiping Canal on the Isthmus of Panama was excavated

Thus, in January 1881, with insufficient preparation for geological and climatic surveys, a construction army of 40,000 troops was stationed on the isthmus, and the construction of the canal began, with disastrous consequences.

Malaria and yellow fever quickly swept through the rainforest, and more than 20,000 people died as well as damp heat and poisonous insects.

Even more fatal, four years after construction, the team discovered that the Pacific side of the Isthmus of Panama was at least 20 centimeters higher than the Atlantic side, which led to the collapse of the plan to dig the canal according to the sea-level scheme, for which the French had already invested $400 million, a large number of builders died, and the canal was only a third of the way completed.

In addition, as the owner of the Panama Railway, the United States has been openly and covertly preventing France from transporting goods urgently needed by the French through this railway, and the cost and duration of canal excavation are no longer under the control of the French.

In 1889, the French Panama Interoceanic Canal Company went bankrupt, and Lespes was ruined as the chief engineer of the project.

In 1894, a new company was formed in France to clean up the mess of the Panama Canal, and although Colombia agreed to a four-year delay in completion, and the canal plan was changed from sea-level to stepped locks, the new company was unable to complete the plan.

The French, who were struggling to ride a tiger, were in a dilemma at the moment, but one thing was clear, the canal project would definitely be bankrupt, and now they could only find a pick-up man.

It's easy to find this pick-up man – the United States, where its national power is booming and its power is expanding dramatically.

3. Completion Stage: Uncle Sam shows his fangs

After the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, the territory of the United States expanded from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, and the area increased greatly, but the problem of ocean cargo transportation between the east and west coasts also surfaced, that is, sea ships needed to detour through Cape Horn in South America, and needed to run more than 10,000 kilometers, which was very fatal to transportation costs and timeliness.

In particular, during the 1898 American-Spanish War, the newest U.S. warship was transferred from Seattle on the West Coast to Cuba to participate in the war, and the battleship had to make a detour to Cape Horn, which was simply unbearable for the U.S. military. Therefore, the Panama Canal is a must-win for the United States.

In the face of the Colombians, who are not interested in the United States, the Americans have long left a few followers as preparations. First, after the Mexican-American War in 1848, the United States signed a treaty with Mexico to obtain the right to dig the Isthmus Canal in southern Mexico, and second, in 1849, it signed a treaty with Nicaragua to obtain the right to dig the Nicaragua Canal.

In particular, the Nicaragua Canal, the Nicaraguan Isthmus with Lake Nicaragua and the San Juan River can be used, and the relatively flat and open terrain is a favorable choice for the construction of the Grand Canal.

Then-US President Theodore Roosevelt openly threatened Colombia and France that if the Panama Canal did not benefit the United States, the United States would dig the Nicaragua Canal to replace the Panama Canal.

In this way, both Colombia and France are anxious, because once the Nicaragua Canal is built, Colombia's dream of making a fortune in the canal will come to an end, and France's huge investment in the Panama Canal will also be in vain.

As a result, France sold the rights to dig the Panama Canal to the Americans at a very low price of $40 million, and the Colombian side had to agree to sublease the canal zone to the United States and sign a treaty with the United States in early 1903.

However, when the contents of the treaty reached Colombia, the people were outraged, believing that it was a traitorous act, and the Colombian parliament was forced to veto the treaty. The Americans ran out of patience and took a direct and quick way to prop up the opposition in the Panamanian region and separate Panama from Colombia.

And the upper echelons of Panamanian society, of course, did not want the canal project to go bankrupt, which directly harmed the interests of the Panamanians, so the United States and the Panamanian independence faction hit it off.

In November 1903, Panama gained independence from Colombia with the support of American armed forces. Subsequently, the "U.S.-Malaysia Treaty" was signed, and the right to dig the Panama Canal finally fell into the hands of the United States without obstacles.

As a result of research, the Americans have solved problems such as yellow fever and malaria by cutting down trees and purifying water sources, as well as solving the problem of sea level difference through lock-style canals. Rao is a powerful country with deep pockets like the United States, and the construction of such a canal is also very costly. After spending more than $200 million, employing more than 500,000 laborers, and 10 years of construction, the Panama Canal was finally opened in 1914. And President Theodore Roosevelt also made it to the President's Hill with the great achievements of this canal.

For more than 80 years, the Americans have firmly held control of the Panama Canal by "renting" the Canal Zone, and have sent troops to garrison the Canal Zone, becoming a state within a state in Panama. Over a period of nearly 60 years, starting in 1920, the United States received $45 billion in canal tolls, while Panama received only $1.1 billion in Canal Zone rents.

After the Second World War, decolonized national liberation movements swept the globe. Patriots in Panama also began to fiercely resist US hegemony and the occupation of the canal. But even though the national independence movement is going on all over the world, the United States is still unwilling to give up this golden waterway, who resists

It was only after 1979 that the Panamanian government was finally allowed to participate in the operation and routine maintenance of the canal

It was not until February 1999 that the United States Government, under pressure from international independence and liberalism, agreed to return control of the Panama Canal Zone to the Panamanian Government.

According to these histories, Panama in 1876 has not fallen into the hands of the United States, the lifting engineering equipment of the Hantang Group in the 21st century, the large excavator can obviously greatly speed up the project, and the cinchona frost in the Americas has solved the disease prevention and control in the tropics, so the most important thing at present is to seize the right to dig the canal from the Colombian government.