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Since the transfer of the lands occupied by the Americans with the ratification of the Panama Canal treaties in 1977, thousands of hectares that were used as shooting ranges, training camps, and defense sites that have been contaminated with explosives and military ammunition have returned to our country. These places are currently protected areas that are used for tourist activities and others are absolutely reserved, where the passage to visitors is restricted. In this work, a mixed methodology was developed, since we quantified the hectares with the greatest use as shooting range areas and qualitatively analyzed which areas are currently used for tourist activities that may represent potential risks for the visitor.
In the work we used GPS georeferencing to capture data and then map the sites used as polygons and test sites. In addition, a series of interviews were developed with residents and tour operators of the areas impacted by the military activities of the Americans.
In this investigation we were able to determine that large forested and coastal areas of our country have not been decontaminated of American military equipment. Unfortunately, national authorities have not pressured the American government to clean and decontaminate many of the sites with tourist potential, to the detriment of neighboring communities with a tourist vocation.
