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panamajames
Joined 2012
Posts: 5096

5 years ago

Dr. Justo Arosemena - Panama

5 years ago

Panama is commemorating the bicentenary of Dr. Justo Arosemena with a new currency circulation of $4 million dollars in new quarters created by the Royal Canadian Mint and in circulation today May 15th 2019.

Dr. Justo’s father, Don Mariano Arosemena was one of the independence leaders that signed the act of Independence of the Isthmus on November 28, 1821. Justo Arosemena was born on August 9, 1817 of Spanish heritage who at five years of age already spoke English.

In 1838 he began practicing as a lawyer and a writer in Panama. As a statesman, he did an arduous job for a greater autonomy of Panama within Colombia, which was reflected very well in his ideas about federalism as a system of government. As a result of the political proposals presented by Arosemena to the Colombian Congress, and after a first attempt that would be frustrated by the Civil War of 1853, the Federal State of Panama would be created in 1855, of which Arosemena would be its first president.

In 1863 he was elected president of the Rionegro National Convention , where a new constitution was created in which Colombia became a federal country composed of nine Sovereign States, and called the United States of Colombia . Later, in 1864, Arosemena was the representative of Colombia before the American Congress that met in Lima, where he published his text Study on the idea of an American League.

From 1865 he became involved in diplomacy. He was representative of Colombia in Washington, DC, where he was commissioned to negotiate the conditions under which Colombia, authorized the United States to excavate an interoceanic canal in the Isthmus of Panama.

In 1878 Justo promoted the foundation of the first public library in Panama. Justo was also an intermediary in the border agreement between Colombia and Venezuela as well as consultant lawyer of the Company of the Railroad of Panama (1888).

Justo Arosemena died the 23rd of February of 1896 in Columbus, otherwise known in Panama as Colon. His legacy as a jurist was recognized posthumously by giving his name to the headquarters of the National Assembly of Panama as Palacio Justo Arosemena.

In addition, prestigious private schools in Panama City are named after him. Justo is considered the "father of Panamanian nationality," because he was the first Isthmian intellectual to propose Panamanian Nationality in the mid-nineteenth century, in his essay "The Federal State of Panama" and dedicated his life to fight for the political autonomy of Panama. He devised a model of political organization, proposing that Panama become a totally independent, sovereign state.

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