He arrived at Colon Chamber of Commerce at only 22 years, to dynamize it. After 12 years as an active member, he runs for president of the union and becomes the youngest president of the oldest Chamber in the country.
Micheal Chen is convinced that Panama has a promising future due to its privileged location and The Visitor – El Visitante thinks alike. For that reason we have invited this young leader and visionary that has a lot to offer to Colon Province and Panama for a two part Special Report. This is the first one…
Why has the City of Colon been abandoned by all Panamanians? The only thing that works is economics but it still doesn’t reach all the province.
“Three fundamental words: focus, will and convenience. Why? We have focused so much on the free zone and the ports that we have lost focus in the other areas. We have not put our eyes on the most important asset of Colon, which is the people. Due to this, there is a lot of talent leaving Colon to go to other latitudes in search of a better future.
By not paying attention to Colón City, Costa Abajo and Costa Arriba, insecurity grows, lack of investment, lack of maintenance, lack of everything and people decide to go to other more “convenient” places. This opens the window for illegal activities to take over spaces that are forgotten. We are still in time to change Colon.”
Insecurity does not allow people to visit the City, although projects have been carried out with the gangs, this perception continues and is becoming more acute. What do you feel you can start running to achieve quick and positive results?
“I am not an expert but I can tell you that when people think about security, they only focus on police, weapons, etc. but security goes much further. Security also has very important components such as prevention, training and education.
For this reason, we propose a Security Committee for Colon that involves civil society, private companies, local government, the national government and the international community to help solve the different security problems in Colon. In this way, the different representative actors of Colon’s society can help each other to mark the line to follow and to counteract the effects caused by insecurity.
At the same time, every time a government comes, plans and approaches change. There is no security monitoring for Colon. This is why the committee is important so that it does not matter which government comes, the approach and the plan are the same and sustainability can be guaranteed over time.
Obviously it will not be possible to completely eliminate insecurity, but innovative and creative measures can be created to minimize it and offer other benefits (jobs, entrepreneurship, tourism) that are not organized crime and gangs. An example of this is Medellin where people now live and earn more from tourism than from drugs.
The history of Colon, the world renowned personalities that have passed through its streets, are its most important asset, but it has been locked up between the worn buildings. How can we do now to raise the in-depth stories of Columbus to collective attention?
“When people think of Colon, they think of the Free Zone and the ports, but it is much more than that. It is also history, gastronomy, culture and most importantly: its people.
That said, I make a mea culpa and say that all of us (civil society, businessmen, government) have not done a good job of highlighting what is good about Colón. We have fallen into a culture of reluctance, of a “I don’t care a bit” and of neglect for a long time. The years have passed and we have been waiting for “someone” to do something for us. The truth is that true sustainable change in Colon must begin with ourselves. With a change of ATTITUDE and WAY OF THINKING.
That is why the only way to raise the collective attention of the best of Colon is through ourselves. Through creative and innovative things, initiatives that seem insignificant (properly disposing of garbage, good manners, following the law, being proactive in finding solutions, etc.) but that have a great impact.
Through Colon Chamber of Commerce we have started a very good campaign called “The Change Begins with Me” to influence young people from Colon and our population. To let them know that Colón is a great province and that each one of us from our trenches can help our province change. Only with civil society and private enterprise initiatives true sustainable development will endure over time. In this way, no matter what government comes, we already know what we want, how we want it and why we want it. It is up to us Colon people to put ideas into action.
Education is vital, perhaps a project like the one carried out in Medellín to resocialized a large population that lived in the most violent city in the region during the 1980s could help?
“I believe that the urban renewal of Colon City and the Alto de los Lagos project had noble intentions but was very poorly planned, managed and executed. I think they forgot the most important thing: our people.
I ask these questions:
What is the use of having the best city with the best buildings if we are not going to take care of it ourselves? What is the use of having the best economic reactivation with tourism, if we are not going to offer an excellent service. What is the use of having the best education if we do not apply it with values and principles?
That is why it is very important not to reinvent the wheel. There are other examples of cities like Medellin and Guayaquil that we can use and apply in Colon. Obviously we have to adapt these initiatives to our realities but we can get the good out of it.
In those cities, everyone (private company, civil society, local and national government) understood that they had to collaborate to move the cities forward, always putting people as a priority. In this way, everyone works together to reactivate the economy in a creative and innovative way. By reactivating the economy, more trained people are needed who can occupy jobs and thus also encourage education and by reactivating the economy and education, you also help improve security. It took Medellin more than 20 years to go from being the most violent city in Latin America to being the most innovative and touristic.
What is the greatest tourist asset that Colon has, why is it, and how can we empower it?
“The greatest tourist asset of Colon is a sancocho and mixture of many things: culture, history, gastronomy, historical infrastructure, coasts, beaches and most importantly: the people.
The only way to empower the province is through an organized plan that reactivates the economy, promotes investment, generates jobs, rescues spaces and involves the people of Colon. That plan exists through a law called Colon Free Port.
The Colon Free Port Special System is a law that is more than 28 years old that makes the 16 streets of Colon a giant Duty Free that promotes the sale of duty-free retail products. This promotes investment and the arrival of national and international tourists. Other places like Aruba have implemented this and it has worked.
Unfortunately this special system has not been well applied. It takes 3 things to make it work: will, marketing and technology. For this reason, the private company is making efforts so that through the new cruise port of Colon 2000, Colon Free Port becomes a reality.
The cruise season begins in November 2022 and there are already shopping centers that are going to start operating “tax free” in order to reactivate the Colon economy and promote niches that have not been exploited such as traditional tourism and shopping tourism. In this way you encourage investment and open the way to exploit and enhance the other benefits of Colon.”
Not including the most popular places like Portobelo, Isla Grande, and Fort San Lorenzo, ¿Which is the tourist place with enormous potential that no one talks about?
“In my personal opinion, Colon City (16 streets) has the greatest tourist potential in the country that nobody pays attention to. It is the best laid out city in Central America and has the potential to be an Old Town on steroids.
I imagine Colón City completely restored, full of life, with recreational areas, with an economic reactivation promoted by national and foreign capital and most importantly with its happy, joyful and “echa pa ‘lante” people.
I hope that before reaching an old age I can see a renewed city where we can all enjoy that “little cup of gold” that my grandparents experienced when they first came to this country.”
