A Panama historic district battles development boom. Casco Viejo residents fight $776 million superhighway

\ Since the late 17th century, the massive seawall surrounding Panama City’s Casco Viejo has protected the historic district against pirate attacks and stormy seas.\ \ But residents of this quaint neighborhood fear their old seawall might no longer be able to defend them from the onslaught of a rapidly modernizing city.\ \ Government plans to build a $776 million superhighway — phase III of the coastal beltway megaproject — call for a giant landfill stretching out into the ocean around Casco Viejo, eliminating the neighborhood’s historic maritime boundaries and burying part of its 338-year old seawall beneath a new roadside park.\ \ Original source: Miami Herald\ \ \ \