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Since
1917, only three years after the opening of the Panama Canal,
the possibility of having a free zone area in Colon was discussed.
It was not however, until the end of WWII that the idea became
substance. During the war many locals obtained employment
in the construction of defense facilities and facilities to
provide services for the movement of troops, and with the
end of troop arrivals, came the hard times. Later, Dr. Enrique
A. Jimenez, President of the Republic in 1945, took the initiative
to make the free zone project a reality, making use of the
geographic position of the ports and the interoceanic waterway,
a compulsory route for worldwide navigation. He recommended
the reconsideration of a project prepared by George E. Roberts,
Vice President of the First National City Bank of New York,
which contemplated the creation of a free zone area in Colon
and which had been submitted to the Government in 1929.
In 1946, the Government employed Dr. Thomas E. Lyons, renown
authority on free zones, to carry out a feasibility study
in the area suggested for the project. Based on his recommendations,
the Government approved Law No 18 of June 17, 1948, which
creates the Colon Free Zone as an autonomous institution.
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