Coto War

The Coto War (Spanish: Guerra de Coto) was a conflict between Panama and Costa Rica fought between 21 February and 5 March 1921. The casus belli occurred when a Costa Rican expeditionary force led by Colonel Héctor Zúñiga Mora occupied the town of Pueblo Nuevo de Coto, a hamlet on the banks of the Coto River. At that time the hamlet was in the Alanje district of the Panamanian province of Chiriquí. Zúñiga justified the incursion by the fact that there was no definite border between Costa Rica and Panama. The event ignited nationalism both in Costa Rica and in Panama. In the Costa Rican capital, San José, and in the rest of the country, volunteers and regular forces were organized to fight against the Panamanians. In Panama, especially in Chiriqui, armed groups were organized that managed to repel the Costa Rican forces. The war moved to the north into the province of Bocas del Toro, where Costa Rica raided Panamanian troops and advanced without further resistance. Although Panama won the war in military terms, it had to renounce the territory of Coto under pressure from the United States, who in defense of its banana companies' interests took drastic measures to stop the conflict.