For One Hundred and Fifty Years Colon’s Economy has Boomed and Busted….
Posted by Mike | Under Colon Hotels, Colon Panama
Colon’s economy has boomed and busted throughout Panama’s history. Each bust led to unemployment that a generation of Colon’s residents did not recover from. There is some work. A couple of the old American bases have become productive, like Manzanillo, which is now a big container port. The Colón Free Zone has developed so that it managed $16 billion in trade last year. But other old bases are derelict. Coco Solo, once a submarine base is overrun with squatters; defined here as families who would like work and a home; but haven’t found their place in this new world…of big business in Panama.
The Manzanillo Port in Colon – facility
is about to get a $210 million dollar upgrade
Surely the squatters too are part of the Panama government’s plans. The Free Trade Zone is an island of materialism in a sea of unemployment; while poverty and crime keep Colon residents longing to be given life jackets of hope. The education they need to compete for employment is not expensive, by comparison to what their lack of options is costing the people, the city and their country. Tourists are spending hundreds of millions in other areas of Panama, but Colon is considered by many to be too dangerous to visit.
Panama’s government hopes to inject new life into the city. With grace, it will be hope that is delivered to Colon instead of just better security options. The world doesn’t need another armed city; it needs communities with solutions. And people who work together, willing to compromise to create those solutions.
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