A tormented isthmus?

I didn’t need to read these statistics in the Economist (“The tormented isthmus,” April 16th 2011) to suspect that I am working in a richer Central American country. Panama City looks more like Miami than Guatemala City or Quito or Santo Domingo (cities that I have seen). The other day, I couldn’t stop staring at the high school aged girl on the Interamericana bus playing with her Blackberry.

However, all that these statistics really tell me is that I am living and working somewhere within that 26.4% impoverished sector of Panama. The population of the Comarca Ngabe Bugle is approximately 250,000 which is 14% of Panama’s population, thus leaving only 12% of the impoverished population for, most likely, the other indigenous reservations.

The article discusses how the dangers of drug trafficking is shifting down from Mexico to Central America, especially the northern triangle (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua). In Guatemala and El Salvador, the killing rate is higher today than during times of civil war. Guatemala’s murder rate has doubled in the past 10 years. However, the drug trafficking is causing detrimental security effects throughout Central America. The author claims that since the United States is the consumer of the 300 tons of cocaine that pass through Guatemala each year, the U.S. should take some responsibility in terms of aid in Central America.

U.S. aid sounds good to me. But after reading this article, I can see why the Panamanian government has so little motivation to bring its impoverished areas out of the 3rd world. Panama is in clear 2nd or 3rd place in Central America, only behind Costa Rica and maybe Belize! Unlike in countries like Guatemala with a 50% indigenous population, Panama has the ability to maintain high average statistics in terms of education, health care, mortality, etc, because of the minority indigenous population. So what if a few hundred thousand people don’t have access to water, sanitation, a nurse, a high school education, or a road?

Disclaimer: Quanity wise, education is rapidly improving in my region. Until 3 years ago, schooling was only available until 6th grade. Now students can walk 1.25 hours to receive up to a 9th grade education. This year, some schools offered 10th grade for the first time, and I suspect in another 5 to 10 years a 12th grade education will be available in the Comarca. Quality is of course a whole different story.