The
Separation of Panama from Colombia (
Spanish Separación de Panamá de Colombia) was formalized on
3 November 1903 with the establishment of the
Republic of Panama from the
Republic of Colombia's
Department of Panama.
Since its independence from Spain on November 28, 1821 Panama united to the Republic of Gran Colombia which was then also composed by territories from the present countries of Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador.
The political struggle between federalists and centralists that followed the independence from Spain originated different administrative jurisdictional names for Panama. Under centralism Panama was dubbed Department of the Isthmus and during the federalism as Sovereign State of Panama. Panama tried to gain independence during the federalist era almost achieving it in different occasions; 1831; between 1840 and 1841 when a brief state was created and finally during the "thousand days civil war" (1899-1902) political and armed struggle between the Liberal and Conservative Parties originated in Colombia also devastated Panama. The civil war ended with the signature of the "Treaty of Wisconsin", however the Liberal leader Victoriano Lorenzo refused to accept the terms of the agreement and was executed on May 15, 1903.
On July 25, 1903 the headquarters of the Panamanian newspaper "El Lápiz" was assaulted by orders of the military commander for Panama General José Vásquez Cobo brother of the then Ministry of War as a retaliation for the publication of a detailed article narrating the execution and protests in Panama. This event affected the trustiness of Panamanian liberals on the Conservative government based in Bogotá who later joined the separatist movement.
