Maintaining a Heritage for ALL of Panama
Surveyors pointing their theodolites towards the line where Casco Viejo meets the sea, is enough to chill the blood of residents' committees
They are already gearing up to fight any proposal to extend the Cinta Costera highway-cum-park through or around the UNESCO World Heritage site.
Add to that news that Donald Trump, whose name adorns the latest mega concrete and glass tower in Punta Pacifica is now looking for opportunities in Casco Viejo, and it’s time to consider pulling up the drawbridge and manning the ramparts.
As the best form of defense is attack, according to some military strategists, members of the local community group AVAC, are already their pens (being mightier than the sword) to fight any move by the much favored Odebrecht company to trim costs on the third stage of the Cinta Costera, by using landfill to build a road circling the old city, effectively destroying its unique appearance and certainly leading to a renunciation of its World Heritage classification.
Casco Viejo is a heritage symbol forALL of Panama, and needs to be protected from vandalism in the name of development and highways. Even if you lifestyle leads you to living in a concrete, steel and glass box, you can still take pride in the old city. It’s a place your visitors will remember long after their memories of Punta Pacifica have blurred and merged with similar flashbacks to other concret castles in the sky.
Now Jim Petrus, global relations manager for Trump International, says the company is looking for opportunities in Casco Viejo.
He was in Panama on Tuesday to meet with members of the Panama City Municipal Council and said that the Trump Corporation is "interested in doing a project, even if it is small" in Casco Viejo.
What "small" means to Trump is uncertain, but could be giant to Casco Viejo, where residents have been involved in constant battles to get even the current height limitations enforced. Trump is an organization that likes to tower above the neighborhood.
Invaders throughout history have used local tribes to help achieve their objectives, and a visit to city hall where discredited mayor Bosco Vallarino and his frontmen still rule, could be a first step towards creating a fifth column.
Officials from the Office of Casco Viejo said that this is the first they have heard of any potential investment, and no plans have been discussed with them by the Trump Corporation.
After the disastrous wrecking of the Central Hotel, one would think that the city would be alert to marauders on the horizon. But money is the siege weapon of choice in the 21st century, and it talks louder than canons.
Not since the arrival of Captain Morgan at the gates of the original city has there been a greater need to man the defences.
