Tension over ownership and management of the Panama Canal dated
from early in the twentieth century. In 1903, American eagerness
to construct a waterway through the Central American isthmus led
President Theodore Roosevelt's administration to sponsor a
secessionist rebellion in the Colombian province of Panama. Once
the rebellion had succeeded, Washington then signed the highly
advantageous Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty with the new Panamanian
government. The deal gave the United States not only the right
to operate the canal in perpetuity but also a protectorate over
Panama and control over a 10-mile ribbon of territory (569
square miles) surrounding the canal. In return, the United
States paid the Panamanian government $10 million and promised
annual payments of $250,000. Panamanians protested that this
deal conceded too much to the United States and soon began
demanding revisions. Above all, they objected to discriminatory
labor practices in the Panama Canal Zone, the paltry sum paid to
Panama, and American inf