Texas of Panama (Chiriqui province nickname)

The Chiriqui province on the western coast of Panama has an agricultural economy. Bananas and coffee are grown in Chiriqui, and there are many cattle farms and horse ranches. Chiriqui has been called “the Texas of Panama” since at least the 1960s.
   
   
Wikipedia: Chiriqui Province
Chiriquí is a province of Panama, it is located on the Western coast of Panama and is the most developed province in the country. The capital is the city of David. The local government of Chiriquí is modeled after that of the United States.
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Economy
The economy of Chiriquí is based principally on livestock and the production of agriculture, making it the primary province of these materials for the rest of the country. Also, tourism is beginning to increase as the province becomes a destination for national and international tourists.
 
Paradise in Panama
Chiriqui Province is known as the “Texas of Panama”, and the vegetable fields, dairy and cattle farms (called “Fincas”) and horse ranches abound, especially around Volcan. This highlands area is known for it’s highly prized and award winning coffee. As a matter of fact, the Kona Coffee people were recently indicted for importing Boquete coffee and re-labeling it “Kona”. Starbucks always puts a ration of Boquete coffee in their brew, for its marvelous flavor.
     
30 September 1963, New York (NY) Times, “United Fruit Shifting From Stems to Bunches in Shipping Bananas,” pg. 37: 
In Panama’s Chiriqui district, not far from the Costa Rican border, is the largest banana-producing operation of the United Fruit Company. It is known as the Chiriqui Land Company.
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(Pg. 43—ed.)
The big chiriqui district in which the United Fruit Company plantations are located extends from the extreme western part of Panama to the Pacific Ocean on the south. It is sometimes called the “Texas of Panama.”
 
Google Books
Operation Just Cause:
The Storming of Panama
by Thomas Donnelly, Margaret Roth and Caleb Baker
New York, NY: Maxwell Macmillan International
1991
Pg. 352:
Cisneros, who grew up in south Texas, thought of Chiriqui as the Texas of Panama.