In 1903, Theodore Roosevelt’s administration approached the Colombian government — then in control of Panama — with an aggressive proposition to build a canal across the isthmus. When the Colombian Senate rejected the deal, Washington orchestrated a Panamanian uprising for national independence and dispatched the US Navy to ward off any Colombian retaliation.

A new government was swiftly formed, and proceeded to pass a constitution that transformed the tiny country into a de facto protectorate of the United States.

Panama has gained scarcely a semblance of sovereignty since. The US military intervened on ten separate occasions in the twentieth century, and didn’t cede even nominal control over the Canal Zone until 2000.