arts

In a country with a white minority political and economic power structure, it has been convenient for those on top to characterize all black Panamanians and their culture as “Afro-Antillean.” But of course, the Spaniards brought African slaves to the isthmus and such places as Fort San Geronimo and the Customs House in Portobelo were built by these black people. Then there were the Cimarrones, slaves who ran away to the bush to found their West African-styled villages, where certain cultural forms persisted, some little-changed to this day, others overlaid with later veneers of Catholic and Spanish cultural influences. Colon-style diablitos and congo dancing are examples of these.