In June, two Panamanian authors contributed their works to the Roberto F. Chiari Library, greatly enriching the Canal’s collection and knowledge.

Panamanian author Luis Puleio Cervera delivered his work Caminos Coloniales de Panamá. In this publication, Puleio presents his search for Hispanic colonial roads and his findings of the remains of the routes that defined Panama’s interoceanic vocation. The book explores and details the routes that would be the precursors of the railroad as well as the Canal.

Puleio Cervera (Panama, 1947) is an expert explorer and lover of Panama’s rainforest.

“My obsession was adventure, going deep into the jungle and understanding its secrets, obtaining its revelations,” says Puleio in his biography. This knowledge, lost in memory and covered in jungle, is described with maps, photos and diagrams that describe the importance of these routes and their historical value.

For his part, writer Rubén Hurtado contributed his first literary work El Paso Obligado. Hurtado presents 13 stories that tell Panamanian stories around a powerful theme: death. Some are set in the lands of the former Canal Zone, and feature characters whose lives have been influenced by the transit route. For example, the story El treinta y dos, recalls the sad accident of a passenger bus that fell from the bridge of The Americas in 1971, and the story Germán, el alemán, portrays in its scenes the historic Titan crane.

An architect by profession and a collaborator with Canalero, Hurtado cultivates the literary genre of mystery as a writer and reader.

The documentary collection of the Roberto F. Chiari Library includes books, directories, maps, theses, magazines, nearly 4,000 rolls of microfilm, brochures, and magazine articles. It also has a collection on the Canal, including technical information, reference works, and a newspaper and periodicals library. It also provides research and reference services, as well as bibliographic consultations.