Today, November 5th, all of Panama thanks and commemorates the actions carried out by the men and women of the province of Colón who officially finalized the severance of ties between Panama and Colombia.
It is a day to exalt people like Porfirio Meléndez, Carlos Clemant, among others, and women like Aminta Meléndez; who played a fundamental role in the separatist movement.
It’s been 118 years since that historical event, which solidified us as a free and sovereign country, with actions that were vital for the severance of ties with Greater Colombia.
According to national historiography, while Panama City celebrated the separation, in Colón there was a small army of approximately 500 Colombian soldiers who formed the “Batallón de Tiradores” (Sharpshooters Battalion), commanded by Colonel Eliseo Torres.
They had arrived in the bay of Colón due to a rumor circulating in Colombia about a supposed Nicaraguan invasion through the Atlantic Coast.
Don Porfirio Meléndez, a merchant from Colón at the time, intervened with the Colombian soldiers, telling them that the rumors of a Nicaraguan invasion were false and that there was complete peace in Panama City, encouraging them to return to Barranquilla.
On November 5, 1903, Juan Antonio Henríquez, a member of the Revolutionary Board of Colón, sent a telegram to Panama stating the following: “Only now, at 7:30 p.m., can it be said that the separation of Panama is assured.”
This crucial event sealed the historic separatist movement of Panama from Colombia, which had been declared on November 3rd of that same year.