Panama

Republic of Panama
*República de Panamá*
Republic of Panama República de Panamá
	Flag Coat of arms
	Motto: "Pro Mundi Beneficio" (Latin); "For the Benefit of the World"
	Anthem: Himno Istmeño
Capital and largest city	Panama City
Official languages	Spanish
Government	Constitutional Democracy
• President	Martín Torrijos
Independence
• from Spain	28 November 1821
• from Colombia	3 November 1903
• Water (%)	2.9
Population
• Dec 2006 estimate	3,320,000 (133rd)
• May 2000 census	2,839,177
GDP (PPP)	2007 estimate
• Total	$26.250 billion (105th)
• Per capita	$8,000 (83rd)
Gini (2002)	56.4; high inequality
HDI (2004)	0.809; Error: Invalid HDI value (58th)
Currency	Balboa, U.S. dollar; (PAB, USD)
Time zone	UTC-5
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5
Calling code	507
ISO 3166 code	PA
Internet TLD	.pa

Panama, officially the Republic of Panama (Template:Lang-es; IPA: [re'puβlika ðe pana'ma]), is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on an isthmus, Panama is a transcontinental nation which connects North and South America. It borders Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south.

History

Panama was explored and settled by the Spanish in the 16th century. In 1821, under the leadership of the then-colonel in command, José de Fábrega, it broke with the Spanish Crown and joined Simón Bolívar's Republic of Gran Colombia. When this dissolved in 1830, Panama remained part of Colombia.

On 3 November 1903, Panama declared its independence from Colombia. The US Battleship Nashville prevented the Colombian military from sailing to Panama. An invasion through the dense Panamanian jungle was impossible. The President of the Municipal Council, Demetrio H. Brid, highest authority at the time, became its de facto President, appointing a Provisional Government on 4 November to run the affairs of the new republic. The United States, as the first country to recognize the new Republic of Panama, sent troops to protect its economic interests. The 1904 Constituent Assembly elected Dr. Manuel Amador Guerrero, a prominent member of the Conservative political party, as the first constitutional President of the Republic of Panama.

In December 1903, Mr. Phillipe Bunau Varilla –a French citizen who was not authorized to sign any treaties on behalf of Panama without the review of the Panamanians– signed unilaterally the Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty which granted rights to the United States to build and administer indefinitely the Panama Canal, which was opened in 1914. This treaty became a contentious diplomatic issue between the two countries, reaching a boiling point on Martyr's Day (9 January 1964). The issues were resolved with the signing of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties in 1977.

The original intent of the founding fathers was to bring peace and harmony between the two major political parties (Conservatives and Liberals). The Panamanian government went through periods of political instability and corruption, however, and at various times in its history, the mandate of an elected president terminated prematurely. In 1968, a coup toppled the government of the recently elected Arnulfo Arias Madrid. General Omar Torrijos eventually became the leading power in the governing military junta, and later became an autocratic strong man until his death in an apparent airplane accident in 1981. After Torrijos's death, power was eventually concentrated in the hands of General Manuel Antonio Noriega, a former head of Panama's secret police and an ex-informant of the CIA. Noriega who was implicated in drug trafficking by the United States which resulted in difficult relations by the end of the 1980s came up through the ranks after serving in Chiriqui province and in the town of Puerto Armuelles for a time.

On 20 December 1989, twenty-seven thousand US personnel [1] invaded Panama in order to remove Noriega. A few hours before the invasion, in a ceremony that took place inside a U.S. military base in the former Panama Canal Zone, Guillermo Endara (winner of the May 1989 elections) was sworn in as the new president of Panama. The invasion occurred ten years before the Panama Canal administration was to be turned over to Panamanian control, according to the timetable set up by the Torrijos-Carter Treaties. After the invasion, Noriega sought asylum in the Vatican diplomatic mission represented by Monsignor Jose S. Laboa. To induce Noriega's surrender, US forces played loud music outside the embassy which reportedly included the song "Panama," by the 1980s rock group, Van Halen. (WSJ) After a few days, the embassy staff talked loudly for his benefit about the possibility that the mob surrounding them might break through and lynch Noriega. He surrendered to the American military shortly after, and was taken to Florida to be formally extradited and charged by U.S. federal authorities. He is eligible for parole in September of 2007, but the Panamanians want him for trial on charges of murder.

Under the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, the United States returned all canal-related lands to Panama on 31 December 1999, but reserves the right to military intervention in the interest of its national security. Panama also gained control of canal-related buildings and infrastructure as well as full administration of the canal.

The people of Panama have already approved the widening of the canal which, after completion, will allow for post-Panamax vessels to travel through it, increasing the number of ships that currently use the canal.

Panama's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Panama is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Administrative divisions

The nine provinces and three provincial-level *comarcas* of Panama.

Administratively, Panama's major divisions are nine provinces and five indigenous territories (comarcas indígenas).

Provinces: Bocas del Toro · Coclé · Colón · Chiriquí · Darién · Herrera · Los Santos · Panamá · Veraguas

Provincial-level comarcas: Emberá-Wounaan · Kuna Yala · Ngöbe-Buglé · Kuna de Madugandí · Kuna de Wargandí

Geography

Panama is located in Central America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, between Colombia and Costa Rica. Its location on the eastern end of the Isthmus of Panama, a land bridge connecting North and South America, is strategic. By 1999, Panama controlled the Panama Canal that links the North Atlantic Ocean via the Caribbean Sea with the North Pacific Ocean.

A nearly impenetrable jungle forms the Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia. It creates a break in the Pan-American Highway, which otherwise forms a complete road from Alaska to Patagonia.

Economy

With unemployment rates at 7.3%, The population living in poverty is at 27%. However, the Panamanian economy grew 8% in 2006 and for the first time in the last ten years the public sector closed the year 2006 with a trade surplus of USD 88 million.^{[verification needed]} Furthermore the GDP nominal revised in 2006 reached USD 16,704 billion.

Panama's economy is service-based, heavily weighted toward banking, commerce, and tourism, due to its key geographic location. The handover of the canal and military installations by the USA has given rise to new construction projects. The Martín Torrijos administration has undertaken controversial structural reforms, such as a fiscal reform and a very difficult Social Security Reform. Furthermore, a referendum regarding the building of a third set of locks for the Panama Canal was approved overwhelmingly (though with low voter turnout) on 22 October 2006. The official estimate of the building of the third set of locks is US$5.25 billion.

The Panamanian currency is the balboa, fixed at parity with the United States dollar. In practice, however, the country is dollarized; Panama mints its own coinage but uses US dollars for all its paper currency. Panama is one of three countries in the region to have dollarized their economies, with the other two being Ecuador and El Salvador.

Globalism

The high levels of Panamanian trade are in large part due to the Colón Free Trade Zone, the largest free trade zone in the Western Hemisphere. Last year the zone accounted for 92 percent of Panama's exports and 65 percent of its imports, according to an analysis of figures from the Colon zone management and estimates of Panama's trade by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

Panama fared decently in tourism receipts and foreign direct investment as a percent of GDP (the fourth-highest in Latin America in both categories) and internet penetration (eighth-highest rate in Latin America).

Inflation

According to the Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC, or CEPAL by its more-commonly used Spanish acronym), Panama's inflation as measured by CPI was 2.0 percent in 2006.Template:PDFlink Panama has traditionally experienced low inflation.

Real estate

Panama City has seen a race between two rival projects aimed at becoming the tallest building in Latin America. But one of the two projects was cancelled. The other project, a 104-story residential and hotel building named Ice Tower, is slated to be completed in 2010.

The Palacio de la Bahia project has been cancelled by the Spanish promoter Olloqui. The two projects were originally smaller, but subsequently started adding floors to obtain status as the tallest building in the region.

There are more than 105 projects in Panama City where neighborhoods are experiencing a huge increase in the number of buildings. In San Francisco there are currently 25 new buildings being built.

ie. Trump Ocean Club, Asia Tower, Los Faros de Panama will be located on Punta Pacifica.

Grupo Mall, another Spanish developer, is building a multitower apartment complex, hotel, and commercial mall. The project is scheduled for partial completion in 2009.

Apart from the existing demand, future developments will also be helped by such factors as the planned expansion of the Panama Canal, a possible refinery by U.S. oil giant Occidental Petroleum and a new container port near the Pacific entrance of the canal.

Income Inequality

Income inequality is a problem in this country. According to the Inter-American Development Bank, the Gini Coefficient of per capita household income in Panama is 0.57.[2] This is a high level of income inequality, suggesting that resources are badly distributed, however, its income inequality is eventually lowering and problems in the country are being resolved.

Demographics

File:Panamacity night.jpg

Paitilla at night.

The culture, customs, and language of the Panamanians are predominantly Caribbean and Spanish. Ethnically, the majority of the population is mestizo of mixed Amerindian, African, Spanish and Chinese descent. Spanish is the official and dominant language; English is spoken widely on the Caribbean coast and by many in business and professional fields. More than half the population lives in the Panama City–Colón metropolitan corridor.

The overwhelming majority of Panamanians are Roman Catholic, accounting for almost 80% of the population. Although the Constitution recognizes Catholicism as the religion of the great majority, Panama has no official religion. Minority religions in Panama include Protestantism (12%), Islam (4.4%), the Bahá'í Faith (1.2%), Buddhism (at least 1%), Greek Orthodox (0.1%), Judaism (0.4%), and Hinduism (0.3%). The Jewish community in Panama, with over 10,000 members, is by far the biggest in the region (including Central America, Colombia and the Caribbean). Jewish immigration began in the late 19th century, and at present there are synagogues in Panama City, as well as two Jewish schools. Within Latin America, Panama has one of the largest Jewish communities in proportion to its population, surpassed only by Uruguay and Argentina. Panama's communities of Muslims, East Asians, and South Asians, are also among the largest.

Panama City hosts a Bahá'í House of Worship, one of only eight in the world. Completed in 1972, it is perched on a high hill facing the canal, and is constructed of local mud laid in a pattern reminiscent of Native American fabric designs.

Panama, because of its historical reliance on commerce, is above all a melting pot. This is shown, for instance, by its considerable population of Chinese origin (see Panama section in Chinatowns in Latin America). Many Chinese immigrated to Panama to help build the Panama Railroad in the 19th century although larger numbers have immigrated over the last few decades mostly as economic immigrants. At least 6% of Panama's population are of full or partial Chinese descent. A term for "corner store" in Panamanian Spanish is el chinito,^{[citation needed]} reflecting the fact that many corner stores are owned and run by Chinese immigrants. (Other countries have similar social patterns, for instance, the "Arab" corner stores of France.)

There are seven indigenous peoples in Panama:

The country is also the smallest in Spanish-speaking Latin America in terms of population (est. 3,232,000), with Uruguay as the second smallest (est. 3,463,000). However, since Panama has a higher birth rate, it is likely that in the coming years its population will surpass Uruguay's.

Notes and references

External links

http://www.cet.edu/earthinfo/camerica/panama/PCtopic2.html

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