Immigration Story: Panama By: Tatiana

My stepfather, Ricardo Balanta immigrated from Panama in 1997.
There are a lot of stories on Panama, and they’re pretty interesting, so please enjoy them. Here are some stories on Panama. Well first there is an interesting story on “Panama Viejo” that involves Spanish Pirates and the captain Henry Morgan. The fire, construction and pillage that were caused by Henry Morgan in 1671 provoked the move and construction of a new city in 1673, which today is known as the Old City Center or Colonial Panama (infoplease.com). The fire wasn’t only caused by Henry Morgan he brought 1,200 Spanish pirates with him that were just on a nine day trek through the jungle. Hopelessly outnumbered, the Panamanian defenders tried to guard the city itself but their morale was broken and they gave up less than eight hours after the first shot had been fired(infoplease.com). The pirates never attacked Panama again. ( LASR.net)

Furthermore, there is a story about a former president named Manuel Antonio Noriega (wikipedia.com).
He is a former Panamanian general and the military dictator of Panama but held the post of “chief executive officer” for a brief period in 1989(Wikipedia). The 1989 invasion of Panama by the U.S. removed him from power, he was captured, detained as a prisoner of war, and flown to the United States (Wikipedia). “This invasion was an attempt to overthrow military Dictator Manuel Noriega who had been indicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges and was accused of suppressing democracy in Panama and endangering U.S. nationals”(history.com). Noriega was also tried on eight counts of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering in April 1992. Noriegas U.S. prison sentence ended in September of 2007, “pending of extradition requests by both Panama and France, he remains in prison as of January 2009(Wikipedia) So in that time that would be a push factor in that time.

Here is some info of Panama; well to start with, the capital of Panama is Panama City.
It also is explored by Columbus in 1502 and Balboa in 1513(Lasr.net). In 1821, when Central America revolted against Spain, Panamá joined Columbia, which had already declared its independence (Lasr.net). For the next 82 years, Panama attempted unsuccessfully to break away inventions (Lasr.net). Another good fact about Panama is that after a U.S. proposal for Canal rights over narrow isthmus was rejected by Columbia, Panama proclaimed its independence with U.S. backing in 1903(Lasr.net) .

Culture in Panama is very interesting also. The language Panamanians speak is Spanish. There music is Cumbia, Bolero, Merengue, Reggae, Mambo and Salsa. There food is fried tortilla, purple potato salad, Onion Tomato and Lettuce and add Vinegar as dressing, they also have, arroz con gandu, platano de tentacion, and patacon. Their most famous food is “sancocho”. It is a spicy combination of vegetables ang chicken in the form of stew. In conclusion, these are a few facts on the culture of Panama (all from Wikipedia.com). All of these delicious foods! This is a great pull factor.

The economy is something big in Panama also, really big (tropicalfrontier.com). This is because; one part of the economy from Panama is the Panama Canal (focuspublicationist.com). Panama Canal is a big part of tourism (Lasr.net). If you were wondering, the Panama Canal is a World Wide importance as a transportation center because it’s good tourism, transports goods, people go on cruises through the Panama Canal, The Panama Canal is a man made channel which joins the Pacific and Atlantic oceans(infoplease.com). “It is one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken; it had an enormous impact on shipping between the two oceans replacing the long and treacherous route to via the passage and cape horn at the South western most tip South America” (tropicalfrontier.com). The Panama Canal is a beauty and also is a great part of the economy (panamatours.com). However, the Panama Canal is not the only part of economy (World Fact book encyclopedia year 1999). There also is a beautiful Panamanian woman’s dress called a “pollera” (Lasr.net). “The pollera is a lacy frilly creation which is as colorful as it is expensive” (panamatours.com). People can make a lot of money out of this dress because a lot of tourists would like to buy them for their children or for themselves (Wikipedia). In addition, business in Panama is somewhat the same as here in the United States (tropicalfrontier.com). Although, there is one part that is not the same there is a lot of jobs (Wikipedia). So the economy is very successful The Panama Canal, that is definitely a pull factor, a lot of tourism. The “pollera” is also a pull factor.

My stepfather, Ricardo Balanta was born in Panama City in 1981. He grew up wanting the best out of life. Ricardo would love spending his days in his grandmother’s big house instead of his parent’s small apartment. He dreamed big and wanted to be successful one day. Ricardo would talk to people who would visit Panama and lived in the U.S. An aunt who lived in the U.S. came to Panama and requested a visa from the Embassy so that Ricardo could visit. Ricardo was 15 years old when he came to the U.S. on March 1997. He was very young and unfortunately was too excited to think about doing anything but hanging out. His aunt was not happy with his behavior and sent him back to Panama.
He was very sad and realized he could have been better. He saw no future in Panama. January 1998, Ricardo ran away from home with the help of his cousin from the U.S. He wore two pants and packed a few things in a plastic bag and told his mother he would be back later. However, Ricardo was making a huge decision of leaving Panama. He was afraid of the unknown, afraid if this was the right decision. Ricardo wasn’t just looking for the experience but for a better way of life. His parents were scared when Ricardo didn’t return that day. They looked in hospitals, police stations and even the morgues for him. He called the next day to let them know that he was in Washington, D.C.
When Ricardo arrived he needed to get a job and to get a job, he needed to learn English. Ricardo was a newspaper boy in the mornings and would go to high school during the day. Unfortunately, high school wasn’t so successful for him because he had trouble speaking English so he failed on tests. Everyone would say “Hey there’s the immigrant”. Ricardo said he would cry a lot his first few years here in the United States.
Years went by and he barely made any money. His first real job was as a building maintenance guy in an office building in downtown D.C. My mother worked in one of the offices in the building. When they met, as my mother describes it, “Sparks flew.” Now they have been married for 4 years and have a 3 year old son. Ricardo works for a new company where he makes more money. Nowadays, we travel to Panama to see Ricardo’s family.


All of the beauties that Panama has, I bet that is a big reason why Ricardo Balanta had a hard time choosing if he wanted to come here. In conclusion, Panama is a very beautiful and unique place; however, it needs to work on the drug selling.