Verified answer

Government

Type: Constitutional democracy.

Independence: from Spain, November 28, 1821; separation from Colombia, November 3, 1903.

Constitution: October 11, 1972; amended 1983 and 1994 and reformed in 2004.

Branches: Executive--president (chief of state), vice president. (A second vice presidential slot was abolished starting with the 2009 electoral cycle.) Legislative--National Assembly (unicameral; 71 members, reduced from 78 to 71 members for May 2009 elections).Judicial--Supreme Court.

Subdivisions: Nine provinces and three (indigenous) territories.

Political parties: Panameñista Party (formerly the Arnulfista Party (PA)); Democratic Change (CD); National Liberal Republican Movement (MOLIRENA); Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD); Popular Party (PP).

Suffrage: Universal at 18.

It started when Theodore Roosevelt cooked up a rebellion in Panama (that belonged to Columbia) and saw that Panama became a free country the U.S. could control Panama in order to build the Panama Canal which opened in 1914 (Panama became a country in 1903).