Radio Ambulante: La Zona

This episode told a 33-minute story about the Panama Canal--The role of and occupation of Panamanian territory by the United States, the varying opinions about the involvement of the United States, and the conflict that led to the United States turning control of the canal over to the Panamanian government.

Here are my notes:

La Zona

Panamanian opinion vs. US

The conflict

La Zona Canalera, or more simply known in Panama as La Zona, was the territory in Panama that was controlled by the United States starting in 1903, when the United States took over construction of the Panama Canal, through 1914 when construction of the canal was completed, and for 65 more years until 1979 when the territory was reincorporated into Panama.

You can see the zone on the map below:

Apparently, the zone was like a completely different country inside Panama. The storytellers report that La Zona had its own schools, grocery stores with more affordable prices, different landscaping, etc. (They even told a story of how the Americans here eliminated much of the forests in effort to reduce the population of malaria-carrying mosquitoes.) The 3,600 people who lived here were Americans who were either employed to work on the canal or related facilities, or family of a canal worker.

Panamanians knew Americans living in La Zona as "Zonians."

We know the history of segregation throughout mainland United States,

Richard Wainio