Panama

Flag of Panama

**Panama** Officially the **Republic of Panama** is the richest country in Central America due to owning the Panama Canal. Panama is a Unitary Presidential republic with the president having supreme authority over the affairs of state and government but still having the be elected unlike in an Authoritarian Democracy. Panama did in fact fight in the Second Weltkrieg having joined on the side of the Entente, however it did not see much fighting. Panama was formed in 1903 after Colombia was forced to relinquish control over Panama by the United States in order to build the canal there. Panama has won a lot in the last decade having nationalized the Panama Canal and also gaining a lot of trading partners for the nation given its membership in the Entente. Panama is a Member state of the Entente and it has given it a lot of power over the rest of the world via the Entente control over the Panama Canal.

## History

Panama in 1936 was stable with a functioning state with really only one thing wrong with it. It was split in half by the American Panama Canal Zone, a territory of the United States in order to guard the canal and make sure it was still open. This would end up hurting Panama especially after the Black Monday Crisis occurred leaving Panama with little to work with as trade through the Canal slowed down and it made little profit. Then disaster struck to the North with the outbreak of the Second American civil war and this ended up becoming a golden opportunity for the Panamanian government. Panama would seize and nationalize the Canal however this would spark international outrage and the Entente immediately demanded that Panama join it lest the Entente seize the Canal for themselves. However Panama saw the benefits of joining the Entente, opening it up to new trade markets allowing it to make more profit off of its goods and thus Panama willfully joined. This would make the Panamanian government very popular with its people and thus democracy was able to survive in Panama despite the ongoing global crisis. Panama wasted no time in taking advantage of the Entente membership with it exporting its tropical products like Bananas, Coffee, and others to the rest of the Entente making a lot of money. To the north however more events would occur with the Unification of Central America. This would concern Panama a little bit that they would attack their neighbor Costa Rica but this event did not come to pass as Costa Rica would remain neutral. Panama would also be hit with some refugees fleeing from the Patagonian War, and the Brazilian Civil War, witch would cause Panama City to have several overcrowded districts. However most of these refugees would try and go to greener pastures in Cuba and Costa Rica. When 1940 rolled around the outbreak of the Second Weltkrieg would cause a shutdown in global trade from Germany witch would cause less ships to go through the Panama Canal leading to a decrease in profits and a small recession in Panama. However this would only get worse with the Entry of the Entente forcing Panama to join the war causing a complete shutdown of trade with Spain and other Internationale-aligned countries. Panama would send some soldiers to the frontline but most its its benefits to the Entente was allowing for the restriction of Trade to nations looking to potentially join their enemies. When the Second Weltkrieg ended, Panama was put into another bad situation as the Entente began to have rising tensions with the Reichspakt witch shut down trade even more putting more strain on the economy. The Entente would end up demanding Panama cut off the usage of the Panama Canal to the Reichspakt and honoring its agreement with the Entente, Panama would do so with heavy repercussions to its economic state. Panama's future is tied to the levels of tension between the Reichspakt and Entente as Panama hopes to be able to re-open the canal so it can get more money. But if it gets worse, Panama will likely collapse given its economic reliance on the Canal and potentially we could have a socialist nation or military dictatorship controlling the Canal.

## Military

Panama's military is mostly for defensive operations and to garrison the Canal and make sure that goods going through the Canal are not dangerous. Panama's Army is small but well trained for stopping ships and checking their cargo, thus most of the Army is around the Canal. Panama also has a small navy mostly used to enforce these rules should the Army not be enough. Panama also has a small air force supplied by Canada witch has been shifted over to Panama's command. This is mostly incase a major war in the region drags Panama into it.