Teenage defiance sparked an international powder keg. Seventeen-year-old Panaman

1964 Event

Panama Canal Zone Riots: Students Raise a Flag, 21 Die

Teenage defiance sparked an international powder keg. Seventeen-year-old Panamanian students marched toward the Canal Zone, determined to plant their nation's flag where the U.S. claimed sovereign ground. But American troops were waiting. Shots rang out. Four students died. And suddenly, a student protest became a national wound—a moment when Panama's long-simmering resentment against U.S. colonial control erupted into bloody confrontation. The flag they couldn't raise became a symbol sharper than any flagpole.

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January 9, 1964

62 years ago

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Panama Canal Zone Riots: Students Raise a Flag, 21 Die

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