Top political leaders in Panama held a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the return Panama Canal after decades of United States control.
However, the celebration took place under cover, as the newly elected US President Donald Trump resume call that his country reassert dominance across the key waterway that connects the Pacific Ocean with the Caribbean Sea.
Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, a right-wing leader like Trump, was among the speakers at Tuesday’s main ceremony in the capital, Panama City.
He assured viewers that the Panama Canal would remain his country’s property, rejecting the Trumps remarks without mentioning the American leader by name.
“There are no hands involved in the canal other than Panama,” Mulino said. “Be assured, it will be in our hands forever.”
But Trump has increasingly pushed for US administration of the canal as part of his broader expansionist rhetoric.
Earlier this month, Trump teased that Canada should become the 51st US state, and reiterated his desire to buy Greenland, an idea he floated during his first term.
But as Trump prepares for a second term on Jan. 20, he has alarmed some observers with threats to potentially wrest the Panama Canal back from Panamanian control.
On December 21, in a post on his online platform Truth Social, Trump accused Panamanian officials of asking “exorbitant prices” for passage through the canal.
The canal allows cargo ships to cross from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean without having to sail all the way around South America, a dangerous route that stretches for thousands of kilometers.
But the canal has seen increased traffic in recent decades. It also suffered a severe drought that made it impossible to travel through its system of locks: chambers of water that lift boats up and down when the surrounding land is uneven.
However, Trump has indicated in his announcements that Panama is in violation of the 1977 agreement that established the conditions for the canal to pass from US to Panamanian hands.
“This total ‘looting’ of our country will stop immediately,” Trump wrote in the first of two long posts. in otherhe continued with the warning.
“If the principles, moral and legal, of this generous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full and without question,” he wrote.
“To the officials of Panama, please comply.”
Control history
Building a canal through the Isthmus of Panama has long been an ambition of Western colonial powers.
In the late 1800s, for example, the US tried to build a canal in Panama – part of Colombia at the time – but the South American country rejected the deal.
When Panama later declared independence, the US was quick to support its secession. The USA was the first country to recognize Panama as its own country.
In exchange for US support, Panama gave the North American country the right to build a canal and control the land surrounding it. That area became known as the Panama Canal Zone.
But critics saw the deal as a violation of Panama’s sovereignty. Finally, in 1977, then US President Jimmy Carter signed two agreements to return the canal and surrounding lands.
That transfer came into effect on December 31, 1999, exactly 25 years ago.
Carter died on Sunday, just before the anniversary. Mulino paid tribute the deceased American president on Tuesday with a minute’s silence.
In his speech, Mulino described feeling “a mixture of happiness at this 25th anniversary” and “sadness” at Carter’s death.
Remembering the ‘martyrs’
Tuesday’s celebrations also honored protesters who died fighting to return the canal to Panamanian control.
More than 20 participants who were killed in the student protest on January 9, 1964 are among those honored.
On that day, known in Panama as Martyrs’ Day, students attempted to raise the Panamanian flag next to the American one at a high school in the Canal Zone. Violence erupted, resulting in the deaths of protesters as well as four American soldiers.
In recent days, Trump has defendant Panama for violating the terms of the return of the canal, allegedly allowing Chinese soldiers to control the shipping route.
But Panamanian officials have denied that China has any influence over the canal.
Jorge Luis Quijano, who served as the channel’s manager from 2014 to 2019, was quoted in the Associated Press as saying that Trump has no legal basis for his claims about the channel.
“There is no clause in the neutrality agreement that allows the return of the channel,” Quijano said.
