Barrio Colon

Colón city exists because the Panama Canal exists—the Atlantic terminus that created a port city where jungle previously stood, the urban settlement that services the waterway connecting two oceans. The Colón Free Trade Zone, the world's second-largest, accounts for 8.5% of Panama's GDP with over 2,500 companies employing 30,000 workers in the trade and re-export activities that geography enables.

The city's economic function differs fundamentally from Panama City's finance-dominated economy, Colón handling the physical goods that transit through while the capital manages the money. This specialization creates employment patterns where warehouse workers, logistics operators, and port handlers predominate. Container traffic through the adjacent ports generates activity that fluctuates with global trade volumes.

Despite proximity to the canal's wealth, Colón displays poverty and infrastructure decay that contradict its economic significance—the urban deterioration that concentrates in port cities worldwide. The contrast between Free Zone prosperity and surrounding neighborhoods exemplifies how transit economies can bypass rather than develop local communities.