An American, Richard Marsh, wanted to find a region suitable for planting rubber trees. In his jungle forays, he noticed a group of white Indians, and later formed an expeditionary party to find them near the San Blas islands.
With the Smithsonian Institution by his side, he entered Panama’s jungles. Along the way, he kept noticing white Indians – but they were never the real white Indians he so stubbornly believed in. His party of scientists and local blacks eventually motored up a river that local Indians had warned them to avoid. They brought guns and dynamite, and a Victrola record player – for the purpose of wowing the Indians with music. They placed the locals on the bow of their canoes, so that if the so-called Kuna did attack, at least their first victims would be their guides.
When Marsh found the Kuna to be a pleasant and reserved people, he also found that the white Indians were just albino Kuna – not the lost ancestors of European heritage he so wanted to prove existed. Quickly, however, he was also learning about the Panama Government’s cultural attacks. He brought a legion of the Kuna on a foray across North America, generating attention both in the United States and Canada. Although Marsh began his jungle journeys looking for wealth, he became a spokesman for the Kuna, and returned to Panama.
By 1925, he was helping to organize a rebellion against Panama’s Government, and assisting in writing a declaration of independence for a new independent Kuna Republic. He worked with Kuna rebel leaders, and they formed attack forces across the islands.
One morning, the sun rose and the Kuna slaughtered twenty-two Panamanian police. The war for the San Blas began, but the Panamanian police were already running for their lives. Richard Marsh wanted U.S. support after his proclamation of independence, and was stationed with a band of Kuna, awaiting the military response from Panama.
The Government in Panama wanted U.S. support as well – Panama, after all, was a young Republic itself, broken from Colombia by a U.S. government with a canal in mind. Nobody knew exactly what to do, but the Americans were alarmed that one of their own was instigating a revolution. The Americans sent a warship to the Gulf of San Blas, where Panamanians and Kuna were invited on board to dispute the situation and try to end things peacefully.
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