Panama is significantly freer, wealthier, and more democratic than its score reflects. Panama’s democracy is more robust than Norway, New Zealand, or Austria. They are leagues freer than the United Kingdom and handily outscored Mauritius and Australia. Their economy, while not standout, is stronger than the economy of Costa Rica, a country that outscored Panama by more than fifteen points. The key issue that Panama faces is corruption. Panama was tied for corruption with Viet Nam, Kazakhstan, and Lesotho. The Odebrecht Scandal indicted two former presidents. Anticorruption packages get caught up in checks and balances and graft exists at nearly all levels of Panamanian society. The country is a tax haven and draws a significant income from holding the foreign assets of oligarchs and legitimate businessmen alike wishing to hide their money from their home governments. Panama also struggles with an unprecedented migrant crisis, as migrants make the dangerous voyage through the Darien Gap, a completely undeveloped stretch of jungle in Northern Colombia and Southern Panama. Along with migrants drug smugglers also cross this dangerous stretch of jungle to run drugs up the Central American subcontinent to Mexico. Panama, a nation both troubled and successful, will not better its situation without eliminating the corruption that plagues it.