Panamanian president José Antonio Remón Cantera is assassinated.
Colonel Jos Antonio Remn Cantera (11 April 1908 2 January 1955) was the 29th President of Panama, holding office from 1 October 1952 until his death on January 2, 1955. He was Panama's first military strongman and ruled the country behind the scenes in the late 1940s. He belonged to the National Patriotic Coalition (CNP), and was its candidate for president in May 1952.
He joined the National Police in 1931, becoming its chief in 1947. In this position, he was responsible for the coup against acting president Daniel Chanis Pinzn.Beginning in 1953, his administration began to negotiate amendments to the Panama Canal treaty with the U.S. administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. These negotiations led to an agreement, ratified in 1955, that substantially raised the annual annuity paid to Panama (from $430,000 to $1.9 million) and resulted in the handover of approximately $20 million in property from the Panama Canal Company to Panama.General Jos Remn was the strong man behind the scenes during the 1940s. He engineered several coups that ousted Dr. Arnulfo Arias and two other presidents from power. "Neither millions nor alms we want justice" was Remn's most memorable statement of principles. In 1952 Remn went on to be "elected" President of Panama in a very questionable election replete with many clear examples of fraud and police interference in Remon's favor.He was Panama's first military strong man, deposing and appointing presidents as he desired. After eschewing political positions, he turned around and ran for president in 1952. The opposition was bullied and persecuted during the campaign and on election day. He was declared the winner in May 1952.
On 2 January 1955, Remn was ambushed at a race track and fired upon by three assailants armed with sub-machine guns. The incident took place at 7:30 pm; Remn died in hospital two hours later. Two other men were killed in the attack, including one of Remn's bodyguards.
Panama ( (listen) PAN-ə-mah, pan-ə-MAH; Spanish: Panamá IPA: [panaˈma] (listen)), officially the Republic of Panama (Spanish: República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country in Central America and South America, bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the south. Its capital and largest city is Panama City, whose metropolitan area is home to nearly half the country's 4 million people.Panama was inhabited by indigenous tribes before Spanish colonists arrived in the 16th century. It broke away from Spain in 1821 and joined the Republic of Gran Colombia, a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela. After Gran Colombia dissolved in 1831, Panama and Nueva Granada eventually became the Republic of Colombia. With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the construction of the Panama Canal to be completed by the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. The 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties agreed to transfer the canal from the United States to Panama on December 31, 1999. The surrounding territory was first returned in 1979.Revenue from canal tolls continues to represent a significant portion of Panama's GDP, although commerce, banking, and tourism are major and growing sectors. It is regarded as having a high-income economy. In 2019 Panama ranked 57th in the world in terms of the Human Development Index. In 2018, Panama was ranked the seventh-most competitive economy in Latin America, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index. Covering around 40 percent of its land area, Panama's jungles are home to an abundance of tropical plants and animals – some of them found nowhere else on earth. Panama is a founding member of the United Nations and other international organizations such as OAS, LAIA, G77, WHO, and NAM.