Colón

Introducing Colón

Simply put, Panama’s most notorious city is a sprawling slum of decaying colonial grandeur and desperate human existence. Prior to 1869, the Panama Railroad connecting Panama City and Colón was the only rapid transit across the continental western hemisphere. However, once the US transcontinental railroad was established, Colón became an economically depressed city almost overnight. Although the city was temporarily reinvigorated during the construction of the Panama Canal, the city’s economy collapsed following the canal’s completion as there was simply not enough work for the thousands of suddenly unemployed laborers.

In 1948 the Zona Libre (Free Zone) was created on the edge of Colón in an attempt to revive the city. Today, the 482-hectare Zona Libre is the largest free-trade zone in the Americas. It links producers in North America, the Far East and Europe with the Latin American market and is home to more than 1600 companies and several dozen banks. Unfortunately, none of the US$10 billion in annual commercial turnover seems to get beyond the compound’s walls and the Zona Libre exists as an island of materialism floating in a sea of unemployment, poverty and crime.

Last updated: Jul 22, 2009