Weak and the powerful : Omar Torrijos, Panama, and the non-aligned movement in the world / Jonathan C. Brown.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brown, Jonathan C., author.

Series:

Pitt Latin American Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Panama--History--20th century.

Panama.

Torrijos, Omar, 1929-1981.

Torrijos, Omar.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (343 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania : University of Pittsburgh Press, [2024]

Summary:

Panama is a country whose geopolitical importance outweighs its size because of the volume of trade that passes the Central American isthmus through the canal. For nearly a century, the United States occupied and controlled the Panama Canal Zone and its shipping operations. In 1999, control was passed to Panama's Canal Authority. This peaceful transfer was a result of the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties. The Weak and the Powerful studies how a weak country negotiated the Cold War and how a strongman navigated between competing power blocs. Omar Torrijos took power in Panama through a 1968 coup d'état and ruled that country until his death in 1981. He committed his country to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which purported to stand for noninterference and against imperialism. Jonathan C. Brown looks at how Torrijos and the NAM were able to mobilize world opinion of the weak against the powerful to pressure the United States to live up to its democratic and international ideals regarding sovereignty of the canal. The author also demonstrates how world opinion was unable to address the problems of ideologically motivated warfare in neighboring Central American states.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Question of Power

Chapter 1. The End and the Beginning

Chapter 2. The Skirmish at Mount Tute

Chapter 3. The Breakdown of Democracy

Chapter 4. El Golpe de Estado

Chapter 5. Revolution, Panamanian Style

Chapter 6. Omar Engages the Third World

Chapter 7. Banks, Oil, and Bananas

Chapter 8. Omar, Fidel, and Tito

Chapter 9. Dissidents and Exiles

Chapter 10. The Rise and Fall of Juan Antonio Tack

Chapter 11. Omar, Jimmy, and Muammar

Chapter 12. Omar's Grand Tour

Chapter 13. Omar and the Senators

Chapter 14. Omar and the Sandinista Revolution

Chapter 15. Omar and the Shah

Chapter 16. Omar, Fidel, and the Sandinista State

Chapter 17. The Transition to Democracy and El Salvador

Epilogue and Conclusion: The Question of Power Revisited

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780822991267

0822991268

OCLC:

1431180287