interior

Colonial port town struggles for new identity

Problems with water and garbage services are an obstacle to tourism projects in the area.

Hope for the historic town may come in the form of a $1 billion energy complex.

Amada Racero/ la prensa

divided: While high unemployment and deteriorating infrastructure continue to plague the Caribbean port founded by Columbus in 1597, some residents are wary of the influx of tourism developers.1103458

Once considered one of the richest ports in colonial Latin America, the Caribbean town of Portobelo, in the Colón province, retained its look as the site of repeated sackings by pirates over two centuries until recently, when entrepreneurs began to view it as a tourist destination.

Since then, two new hotels, several inns and guest houses and a variety of restaurants and aquatic sport centers have sprung up, according to a report from the municipal treasury.

In spite of this development, however, long-standing problems, including an unorganized garbage collection service, an irregular supply water and electricity and soaring unemployment continue to hamper the historic area’s opportunity for growth.

A new water purification plant planned to extend water services to the communities of Cacique, Puerto Lindo and Isla Grande, for instance, has been delayed for nearly a year, despite the district’s investment of over $3 million.

Where unemployment is concerned, mayoral candidates are banking that the Energy Center of the Americas will be installed in within the town limits, bringing with it an investment estimated at upward of a $1 billion. Local representatives, however, have yet to win over environmentalist groups in the area, who warn that the concrete mega-project, which includes a fuel refinery in María Chiquita, will wreak irreparable damage on the ecosystem.

As for the residents of the Portobelo district, their principal concerns seem to focus on improving the area’s aging and often missing infrastructure and clearing up land possession disputes, which, for some locals, means opposing tourism development projects.

Francisco Espino, a 30-year resident of Nuevo Tonosí, said that several families with long-standing ties to land in the community may lose their homes to developers.

“Every day a new owner comes to claim properties,” he added.

Maritza Cuadra, a small restaurant owner in downtown Portobelo, is more concerned about the basic services such as water and garbage collection. She complained that local authorities continue to drag their feet in resolving what should be simple issues.

“The feast of the Black Christ came and went and then came the arrival of the cruise ship season, and the purification plant still isn’t ready. Besides that, problems arise around every Oct. 21 in regards to city cleanup,” she commented.

City councilwoman Emilia Tesis, a representative of Puerto Lindo, acknowledged that there is no coordination between the authorities in the districts of Portobelo and Santa Isabel.

“We admit that our administration has been the one to contribute least to maintaining the landfill located in the district of Santa Isabel, despite the fact that we generate greater amount of trash,” she said, explaining that the situation has much to do with a lack of garbage trucks and a delay in collecting trash collection fees. The Municipality of Portobelo charges each residence a weekly fee of one dollar for that service.

Around $400,000 will be allocated for the for the Municipality of Portobelo next year. Additional revenue, however, will be made through collection of taxes on commercial and residential construction.