The Panama Canal Zone granted the U.S. quasi-colonial sovereignty in perpetuity

Evidence

In 1903, the same year U.S. officials secured access to Guantánamo Bay, they did much the same in Panama. A treaty imposed on the newly independent country gave the United States what amounted to sovereign rights in perpetuity across 553 square miles that became the Panama Canal Zone. The treaty also authorized other extensive powers, including land expropriation outside the Canal Zone and the authority to build bases. Panama would eventually host fourteen. As in Cuba, Panama’s constitution allowed the United States to intervene militarily, and between 1856 and 1989, the U.S. military invaded twenty-four times. With prominent U.S. bases occupying their land and enabling easy intervention, Panama and Cuba were effectively colonies. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 72

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader pattern of U.S. quasi-colonial outposts like Guantánamo and to the reader’s prior notes on how bases enable intervention.
• QUESTION: The detail that between 1856 and 1989 the U.S. invaded Panama twenty-four times is striking; worth verifying the count and breakdown.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 72