The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 plus 8 letter word CENTRAL AMERICAN
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
C
E
N
T
R
A
L
A
M
E
R
I
C
A
N
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Person from Panama" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case person from panama = central american.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.