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The year was 1968 and a military coup had just rocked the Isthmian country of Panama.

Welcome to It Could Happen here.

I'm Andrew Sage, joined again by...

James, it's me again.

I'm excited to talk about Panama.

Nearly missed your Q.

Yeah, I did.

I was forgotten who I was for a second.

Yeah, and this is the follow-up to last episode on the history of U.S. involvement in Panama.

So you can go back and give that one listen if you haven't already.

But in these times of Trump Row doctrine, I want to take us back to this particular moment in our hemisphere's history to highlight the parallels with today.

In short, what we talked about last time was how Panama became a testing ground for U.S. empire,

long before, during, and after the construction of the Panama Canal.

The U.S. had repeated military interventions justified as protecting transit or American interests,

and Washington ultimately backed Panama's break from

Columbia in 1903, secure canal rights on Washington's terms.

This independence came with, you know, a cost, a caveat, a lopsided treaty that turned

Panama into a U.S. protectorate and granted the U.S. permanent control over the canal zone and the rest of the country, effectively.

The canal's construction itself was an engineering feat built on racial hierarchy,

...