Yesterday, Nov. 3, was the 110th anniversary of the Panamanian war of independence from Colombia, greatly aided and abetted by Theodore Roosevelt. Here's a summary of the event from El Tiempo:
Eran las 9 de la noche cuando retumbaron los primeros cañonazos, parece que seis en total durante media hora: seis balas perdidas que fueron a estrellarse contra lo primero que se les atravesó, unas casas y unos gritos, dando de baja así a los dos únicos mártires que se conocen de la gloriosa gesta emancipadora de la República de Panamá: un chino y un burro. El primero se llamaba Wong Kong Yee, fumador de opio, el burro no lo sé.
It was 9 pm when the first cannon boomed, apparently six of them for half an hour, six stray bullets crashing into the first things that got in their way, some houses, and creating the only two known martyrs of the glorious struggle for independence of the Republic of Panama: a Chinese man and a donkey. The first was called Wong Kong Yee, opium smoker, about the donkey it is not known.
Those Colombians will never pardon themselves for giving up the 'jungle of Panama'!!!!
ReplyDeleteWars were different back then!
ReplyDeleteWeren’t they, though? Time machine, where are you? Nothing like the good ole days!