>>86007083It can really depend on who you ask. Panama hardly got a dime out of the canal for decades, since the Canal Zone was American territory until 2000. Plus, America let a dictator get away with a lot of murder and cocaine in the 80s (the CIA was paying him as an informant for years even before that). Then the US had enough of his shenanigans and straight up invaded Panama from the Canal (the Southern Command was based there) to take him to trial in one of those military actions they never tell you about. A good number of civilians died, then there was anarchy and looting in the capital for a few weeks. My grandmother's pharmacy was left with nothing but 4 walls. Not even the toilet was left.
Those are the big negatives off the top of my head. On the other hand for positives, there certainly were employment opportunities to be found in the Canal. Plus, people in Panama could get their hands on nicer American products in better supply and sooner than most other countries in the region. American cultural influence was able to pour out from the Canal sufficiently that the country uses dollars and English is pretty common for a Latin American country. Baseball is the national pastime there and even produced a Hall of Famer. Panama is also a popular nation to retire to, so you have a group of expats that are just there to spend money. And about the invasion, most agree that the dictator certainly had to go.
Ultimately, about a third of the people like America, about 15% hate it, and the rest aren't sure.
If China somehow finds progress with their Nicaraguan Canal project, I suspect the approval ratings to climb. Thankfully, the Chinese aren't getting anywhere with that.
t. Panamanian-American
