Guna Yala Comarca

Guna Yala (formerly San Blas) encompasses the Caribbean archipelago where indigenous Guna communities maintain autonomous governance over islands, coastal waters, and territorial seas. The 91.4% multidimensional poverty rate masks an economy organized around principles that Western metrics poorly capture—coconut trade, fishing, and mola textile artistry sustaining communities whose wealth resides in cultural continuity rather than cash income.

The comarca's tourism model differs from Bocas del Toro's resort development, the Guna controlling visitor access and directing revenues toward community benefit rather than external investors. This autonomy comes at the cost of infrastructure investment that government neglects and communities cannot finance, the trade-off between self-determination and development assistance that indigenous territories worldwide face.

Child poverty at 99.3%—highest in Panama—and maternal mortality three to four times national averages demonstrate how autonomy without resources perpetuates deprivation. Whether Guna Yala can maintain cultural integrity while accessing health and education services—or whether autonomy becomes isolation by another name—tests whether self-governance provides meaningful self-determination or merely administrative abandonment.