determined, carthaginians dug up the canal del dique, a few hundred years before the birth of the panama canal. (francisco arias-isaza) the colonial administration decided to actually build this canal and they had cheap labor, slaves and so they actually digged, plow and hands for numbers of years. so it was safer to bring things from inside the country without having to move things from boat to a mule or to a cargo, you know, a stage car. - if cartagena didn't have the canal del dique, do you think it would be the same city today? - no, first because all the morphology of the bay would be different. second, in terms of the economy, this route pushes lots of money into the cartagena bay industrial city. (sophie fouron) was it a mistake, digging the canal del dique? (francisco arias-isaza) that actually converted cartagena bay, not only as a seaport but a river port and that bought into the cartagena bay the fresh water of the magdalena, and that killed all the corals. - so the whole ecosystem ... - was all completely changed. coral reefs are the equivalent to the rain forest on land, but