I ask because I see more and more articles like the following (which, yeah, is from 2009, but by no means the only article on the subject):
Anyone with first-hand experiences with the place? Is it just like any other Central American city of its size, or is it distinctly more dangerous than the others?
Once, 1984, a day trip to the Free Trade zone there. It didn’t seem any more dangerous than Panama City, but a whole lot safer than Veracruz. We did the “safety in numbers” thing so perhaps we didn’t attract trouble. I certainly felt safer in Colon than I did on the train getting there.
Yeah, it’s a lot more dangerous than most other cities in Central America (although there are places in Honduras and maybe Guatemala and El Salvador that are more dangerous now.)
I’ve lived in Panama 25 years and have gone into Colon only a handful of times (although I regularly drive through its outskirts). The city has been economically depressed with very high unemployment and high crime for decades. It’s certainly the worst place for crime in Panama. There are a few enclaves that might be OK but I wouldn’t walk around there even in daylight.
Every Panamanian president comes into office saying he’s going to revitalize Colon but it still hasn’t happened yet.
The city was quite dangerous even when I first came here in 1977. One of my colleagues had his pants virtually cut off him on the main street from muggers trying to get his wallet. The Free Trade Zone is well guarded and one of the few relatively safe parts of the city. If that’s the only place you went it wasn’t a good sample of what Colon was like. I was in Veracruz about 10 years ago and it appeared much safer than Colon.
The passenger train was in decline at that point after the US turned the railroad over to Panama in the late 1970s or so. Still, it would have been far safer than most of Colon.
They probably don’t want to go down in history as the Colon Cleanser.
I’ve been thinking I’d scope it out after I turn 50.
Now that you mention it, I do seem to remember being told to stay in the Free Trade Zone. The rap on Veracruz was car break-ins … if you park there to go to the beach, leave it unlocked and open the trunk … it’s going to get ransacked and this saves having to buy new locks and windows. I knew an American who rented out there and he had a small armored safe room. He put all his possessions in it whenever he left.
The Free Trade Zone is essentially a walled compound separate from the rest of Colon. One of the complaints is that it actually provides little employment to Colon itself.
In most of Panama, the worst you have to worry about are car breakins and burglary. Muggings are mostly confined to Colon and the worst neighborhoods of Panama City. There are killings but they are mostly connected to the drug trade.
I made a few excursions away from the cities … pretty much a totally wonderful experience every time … the people, the country, the beaches, the weather … it’s as though it was a tropical paradise.
That’s why I live here.
As in most places, the farther you get from the big cities the friendlier the people become. I’ve never been a victim of any kind of crime away from Panama City, even a car break in (although they do occur).
Did anything change much after the US invasion?
But in the more dangerous cities or neighborhoods, are gringos at particular risk?
In the country in general, or in Colon?
The embargo that the US imposed on Noriega impoverished the country. In the aftermath of the invasion, there was massive looting which the US forces did nothing to control. Most businessmen lost their entire stock. So for four or five years after the invasion poverty was very high and crime correspondingly high as well. Back then you would have armed gangs holding up restaurants to the extent that most places kept their doors locked and you had to be buzzed in. There were armed guards at supermarkets.
But the economy has climbed steadily and has been booming for about the last 10 years. Panama is one of the best off and low crime countries in Latin America.
But through all this Colon has been much the same. The rising economy hasn’t made much impact on Colon and it remains impoverished and crime ridden.
I would say yes, because you would stand out as someone who has money and doesn’t know their way around. But not because they were American per se.
… the fishing, the waterfalls, the jungle, the fishing, the culture, the fishing … did I mention the fishing?
Where did you go? The Pearls, off Pedasi, or the Tropic Star?
Thanks Colibri! So in your opinion is Panama better off now than it would be if the US had done nothing? (Including the embargo.)
A few time on Lake Gatun and once out in the Bay, we’d anchor overnight in the Pearls. Would you think I’m exaggerating if I claimed we landed over 200 dolphin-fish in four days? {aka Mahi-Mahi}
Panamanians I know who supported the invasion likened it to having a leg amputated due to cancer. It had to be done, but you’re never the same afterward.
The problem with answering this question is that the US helped create the Panama National Guard, later known as the Panama Defense Forces (PDF), and Noriega in the first place. After the Torrijos-Carter treaties the US built up the PDF in order to have a military force in place to defend the canal after it was turned over to Panama. The problem was that the PDF was highly corrupt, and became even more so after Torrijos was killed and Noriega, a US protege, replaced him. We created a Frankenstein’s monster and then had to burn down the castle to get rid of him.
The country was better off having gotten rid of Noriega, but it would have been even better off if the US had done more to encourage democracy in the first place after the Torrijos-led coup in 1968.
I wouldn’t be surprised at 200 Peacock Bass on Lake Gatun, but 200 Mahi-mahi seems pretty impressive to me.
We threw back any bass under three pounds … 200 Mahi-mahi is incredible, but we did have to drink all the beer in a hurry to make room in the refer compartments … so that’s cause-and-effect in my mind … as drunk as I was, it sure seemed like 200 …
Point being, don’t let the news scare you off … Panama is safe enough to rate high on any top quality vacation spot lists.