Western Panama stretches from the border of Costa Rica to the edge of the Canal Zone. This area has not enjoyed a strong national government since before Panama City was destroyed in 1983. Although Colombia claims the entire region as part of "the District of West Panama", it has no actual control over anything but a few outposts. And though Colombia claims that the rest of the region is under the control of guerrilla groups and isolated camps, western Panama does in fact contain four or five organized regional or urban governments, besides a number of unaffiliated villages and an ever-shifting network of armed groups.