ABSTRACT
The most pressing problem facing the Embera and colonist communities was securing access to land. These people, however, did not have a strong village or supra-village level political organization to unify them. While on the surface, the Embera seemed to have gained a stronger position in the region after resettlement, they remained quite susceptible to external influences over their social and political life. In order to resettle, the Embera had to adjust to a political structure that was alien to their cultural traditions. The influx of more colonists from the interior that resulted from the extension of the Darien Gap Highway was the dominant factor affecting colonists' social and political life after the dam's completion. The migration process resumed after an approximately five-year hiatus (1971-1976) during the resettlement period. The colonists had virtually no effective political structure at the village level and so developed individual relationships with the Bayano Corporation.
