Herrera

It is linked historically with its neighboring province of Los Santos, and just like her, it is considered as the birthplace of the national folklore. It’s capital is the city of Chitre. Herrera and Los Santos where united under the denomination of province of Azuero. For a while, the whole area was named Herrera, then Los Santos province, and finally; in 1915, under the presidency of Dr. Belisario Porras, Herrera and Los Santos where split into independent provinces. Chitre being the capital of Herrera, and Las Tablas of Los Santos. For a brief period of time, in 1941, under the presidency of Dr. Arnulfo Arias Madrid they where united under the name of Los Santos, with Chitre as it’s capital. The experiment ended soon, when a coup appointed Ricardo Adolfo de la Guardia in the presidency and the provinces returned to their previous status. Herrera is the smallest province of Panama, (2,340.7 square kms) and has a population of about 105,000 inhabitants. Entrepreneurs and hard workers are its inhabitants, being cattle ranching and agricultural activities it’s main way of living. The land is uneven on the western side of the Azuero Mountains, while on the seaboard area presents great extensions of plains. It has many ecological, tourism and historical places of interest.
We can point out that the city of Chitre is always showing progress with many modern facilities. While the smaller towns such as La Arena, Ocu, Pese and Parita are the keepers of tradition and folklore. “Cenegon del Mangle”, “Cienegas de las Macanas” and “Sarigua” are places of great ecological interest to visit in Herrera. It also houses one of the best baseball teams of the national league of Panama.