Text & photos Shlomo Liberman
My wife Judit had always wished to revisit Panama City, where she had learnt Spanish. The opportunity arose in 2024 when Norwegian Cruise Line offered a cruise from Tampa, Florida, to several Caribbean countries, passing through the Panama Canal and ending up in Panama City.
Linking the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean was long a commercial dream, since it would shorten the shipping route from New York to San Francisco from 22,500 to 9,500 km. The task was originally undertaken in the 1880s by the French who had built the Suez Canal, but failed since they tried to create a direct link and encountered a high worker mortality rate and investor doubts. The Americans took over in 1904 and came up with the solution – building locks at each end that would lift ships up to an artificial fresh-water lake 26 m above sea level, created by damming a river and a smaller fresh-water lake. This reduced the amount of excavation works needed. The canal was opened in 1914.
The creation of the canal created another traffic problem since it disconnected South America from North America and ferries had to be used. Therefore, in 1962 the Bridge of the Americas was inaugurated, linking South and North America across the canal. Traffic increased, so another bridge, the Centennial Bridge, was opened in 2004.
Jewish Panama
Jews settled on the Panama isthmus already in the 16th century, but these were only a few Crypto Jews who had converted to Christianity to avoid the Inquisition. In the 19th and 20th centuries many Sephardic Jews immigrated. Today there are around 25,000 Jews, the majority of them Halabi (originally from Aleppo in Syria). The city now boasts an impressive number of at least 40 kosher establishments and 5 synagogues.
We stayed at the Residence Inn by Marriot hotel to be near several kosher restaurants. The hotel is located in a multi-story building the size of Azrieli in Tel Aviv. The lobby starts at level 4. On level 2 there is a 1,500 square meter supermarket, complete with a small kosher cafeteria called Super Kosher with over 10,000 kosher products, making it the largest kosher supermarket in the world outside of Israel. Within 100 meters there are several kosher restaurants, bakeries and pizzerias. The hotel itself even offers a kosher breakfast corner.
Panama Viejo - Old Quarter
Judit's old Spanish teacher took us on a tour to Panama Viejo, the Old Quarter, which is the historical district of Panama City which was built following the near total destruction of the original Panama City by pirates in 1671. It was designated a UNESCO Cultural World Heritage site in 1997. You can still see dilapidated buildings, in sharp contrast to the high-rises of the new city center. The municipality offers people to buy these properties at a low cost, on condition that they are renovated to a set standard and completed within a certain time frame. We saw one building which was left unrenovated since the famous graffiti artist, Banksi, had decorated it with a floating figure.
We also visited the ruins of the first settlements established by the conquistadores on the isthmus of Panama dating back to 1519. It was the first European settlement on the Pacific Ocean. There you can find an archeological site and a historical museum. The museum also has some displays of Jewish interest. One display shows Crypto Jews and other Jews being interrogated by the Inquisition. Their attire was indicative of their sentence. Crypto Jews were sometimes called Portuguese or conversos.
Presidential Palace
Judit's Spanish teacher had good connections and managed to get us invited for a tour of the Presidential Palace, which normally is not open to visitors. It was very impressive, featuring large conference rooms and a staircase to the Presidential residence and even a large silver Menora. The presidential servants even offered us espresso coffee in exquisite coffee mugs.
Looking at Panama's new city from the seaside, it looks very much like Manhattan, with a skyline of multi-story high-rises on reclaimed land.
Panama City and Panama Canal today
Looking at Panama's new city from the sea side, it looks very much like Manhattan, with a skyline of multi-story high-rises on reclaimed land. It has become a popular tourist attraction, especially for American tourists.
The Panama Canal itself was initially operated and protected by the US, who had built it. It played a significant role in world trade, particularly prior to WWII. But in 1964 riots broke out, after 22 Panamanians were killed by American troops for refusing to display both the Panamanian and US flag at a school in the Panama Canal Zone.
Several US presidents then tried to negotiate a return of the Panama Canal to Panama, and eventually President Jimmy Carter signed the treaty in 1977 to cede the canal in 1999. Since Panama lacked port management experience, an international tender was issued to operate two ports of the canal and it was won by CK Hutchison, a Hong Kong-based global port operator. The main shareholder of Hutchinson was Li Ka-Shing, who was featured in an article in ESRA magazine as the largest donor to an Israeli educational institution (Technion Creates Chinese University, ESRA Magazine, September 2020).
Recently, after Donald Trump came to power, he advocated for the return of the Panama Canal to the US, due to "Chinese influence." In early 2025, CK Hutchison made a deal to sell all its 43 ports, including the Panama Canal ports, for a reported sum of 22.8 billion dollars to a group of US investors led by BlackRock. The sale was welcomed by the US but faced opposition from Chinese regulators. At the time of writing of this article, the sale hadnot yet been completed.