Fictional South American coastal city that is actually the cocaine capital of the drug empire run by Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) in Licence to Kill. Ruled by puppet president Hector Lopez (Pedro Armendariz Jr.), the city has been essentially bought by Sanchez, who owns the main hotel and bank.
Many interior and exterior sequences in Isthmus City were actually filmed in Mexico City. The city’s Main Post Office became the interior of the Banco de Isthmus, where Sanchez launders all of his drug loot. The hotel where Bond (Timothy Dalton) stays, El Presidente, was filmed inside the Gran Hotel Ciudad de México. Its exterior was shot outside the Biblioteca del Banco de México—the Library of the Bank of Mexico. The exterior shots of Sanchez’s office building were filmed outside the famous El Teatro de la Ciudad (Theater of the City). The casino where elegant blackjack dealer Lupe Lamora (Talisa Soto) helps Bond meet Sanchez was filmed inside Mexico City’s Casino Español, at the time a private club.