Colón struggles as Panama rides wave of prosperity

On one end of the Panama Canal, the nation’s capital gleams with new skyscrapers; a subway, the first in Central America, is under construction.

Forty miles away on the other end of the canal, in the city of Colón by the Caribbean, rotting buildings collapse, sewage runs in alleyways, water service is jury-rigged, and crime and despair have sent protesters into the streets.

Panama is booming, with an average economic growth of 9 percent in the past five years, but it can also lay claim to some of the starkest disparities of wealth in Latin America.

Source: New York Times