Chapter 3: Nix the Canal

Before deep-sixing the corpses, we went through their pockets. Collected money, jewelry, phones and papers. Ricqui was ecstatic to recover her passport. My passport is a fake and I wasn’t concerned over it. I have dozens more, some fake, some stolen, some spoils from victims. I’m more pleased to acquire the papers from these cartel chiefs or sub-chiefs, than getting my fake passport back. It’s useless and I stuffed it into a pocket of a corpse before shoving him into the water for the sharks and barracudas.

Why is the old fake passport worthless? Because running the info on the fake ID brought up my real data and an FBI alert about me. Worthless busted alias. No problem. There are plenty fresh alias I can choose from. A locked strongbox filled with alternate IDs.

“Where are we heading now, Luke?”

“The Zone, except it’s not the zone anymore. Idiot naive Carter gave away the canal nearly half a century ago. The USA completely withdrew and abandoned the canal about twenty years ago.”

“Are we going to pass through the Panama canal?”

“We are going to attempt it. We might not be allowed to. In fact, I’m considering a complete change of plans, avoiding the canal altogether. The cartel knows the canal is our immediate destination.”

“Do you think they’ll come after us?”

“It’s likely, they will ambush us, be waiting for us at Cristóbal.”

“Oh! Let’s go somewhere else then. Why do you blame Carter for giving away the canal? The Panama Canal originally belonged to and rightfully belongs to Panama, and it’s people. Don’t you agree? Do you believe in justice and human rights? You aren’t very nice.”

“Justice? I believe in irony. Did you know, the US not only built the canal, bought the land, funded the construction, and the US also created the nation of Panama? The reality, US marines protected rebels and took Panama from Columbia in a revolution instigated by the US? The isthmus of Panama was originally a uninhabitable swamp. Panama owes it’s very existence to Teddy Roosevelt. The US owned the canal in perpetuity as US territory. The inhabitants were all immigrants or descended of migrants. There’s no native population.

Rights to the canal? Justice? Greed and corruption is more like it. Now under Panamanian rule, not only do ships pay a fee to use the canal, they also have to pay bribes to Panamanian officials.

Did you know after the revolution and setting up Panama as a country, they were considering blocking the US from building the canal unless the US paid the rebels a huge ransom? The US threatened to remove protection, allow Columbia to massacre the rebels, recapture the territory, and then make a deal with Columbia. The new Panamanian government experienced a sudden change in opinion but not in heart. Corrupt and capricious then, same today.”