State Department correspondent in Panama
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio asked Panama to make “immediate changes” in what she calls “influence and control” of China because of the Panaman Channel.
American best diplomat said Panama will have to act or now take the necessary measures to protect their rights under the contract between the two countries.
The warning follows the vow of President Donald Trump that on Sunday in the city of Panama in the city of Panama in the city of Panama in Panama in Panama in the city of Panama in the city of Panama in the city of Panama in the canal and a meeting between Rubio and Jose Raul Mulin.
Two men seemed to come out of their two -hour meeting with a different interpretation.
Mulino told reporters that he had not seen a serious threat to the US military force to take away the channel, saying that he had suggested conversations at a technical level with the US to address Mr. Trump’s concern about Chinese influence.
However, Trump’s vow to get the channel again caused a significant return to Panama. Protesters in Panama City on Friday burned the characters of Trump and Rubio.
The riot police immigrated to the second crowd of demonstrations, the tear gas fired and wrestled people. The conflicts were small, but resistance to the attitude of the US president is widely felt.
Mulino said on Thursday that the issue of ownership of the channel would not be ready to discuss with Rubio.
“I can’t negotiate or even open a negotiating channel procedure. It is sealed, the channel belongs to Panami,” he said.
Mr. Trump’s comments about the channel included an unfounded request that Chinese soldiers manage. He also said that US ships were unjustly accused more than others, despite the fact that such practice would be illegal under contracts.
The water route is actually owned and managed by the Panama Government, under the neutral agreement signed with the USA decades ago. However, Chinese companies have invested largely in ports and terminals near the canal. The company based in Hong Kong runs two of the five ports near its entrances.
But the muscular approach of President Trump – even refusing to turn off the military actions to take the channel – caused a strong patriotic reaction in a small strategic nation.
“That’s funny,” says Panama City resident, Maria, who asked her not to publish her last name.
“There is a contract that has to be respected, and there is nothing to the contract, which says that we cannot have the ports governed by the Chinese,” said the BBC, noting that there are Chinese investments in American ports and cities.
Surrounded by tourists and stalls of Hawking Panama caps and souvenirs, Maria explained that many residents have strong memories of us control over the canal and do not want to come back.
The US and Panama signed a contract in 1979, starting a handover process in which Panama completely controlled the channel in 1999.
“We couldn’t move to the canal zone without being arrested if we didn’t follow all US rules. The moment you crossed that border, you were in the United States,” Maria said.
“We have not had rights in our own country and we will no longer bear it … We are very offended [Trump’s] words. “
For some, Trump’s refusal to exclude the use of military force also triggered doubt and fear. This evokes the memories of the 1989 American invasion of the 1989, to reject the de facto ruler of General Manuel Norieg, a conflict that lasted several weeks and quickly flooded the Panaman forces.
“I was a political leader of the opposition when Noriega said he would kill all the opposition leaders if they were investing now,” recalled the former Congressman of Panama Edwin Cabrera, speaking with BBC locks of the entrance to the Pacific Channel Channel.
“I heard bombs and started seeing people dying … The only thing President Trump and Rubio left to say they would attack us,” he told the BBC. “I would not want to live it in the 21st century, to relive the imperial experience. Panama is in the midst of the war between two forces, now -Ai China, as we look at the sky.”
Marco Rubio is the first Latin American secretary and is known for his Falcon positions in some leaders in the region and on China. While Panama cooperates closely with the US about many issues, Mr Rubio’s visit is intended to signal the intolerance to the administration of the countries that absorb Chinese investment in what they now see as their yard.
Panama claims that China could ultimately use its interests at ports to block American traders or warships in the event of a conflict or a trade war.
“If China wanted to obstruct traffic in the Panaman Channel, they could. That’s a fact … This is what President Trump is raising and we will deal with this topic … that dynamics cannot continue,” Mr. Rubio said to Fox News last week.
Despite the huge support of the ordinary Panamanians for the ownership of the channel of their country, some remain skeptical of their own leadership, claiming that the profit from the fruit road does not filter to enough Panamanians.
“What you see here – that the United States and Donald Trump want to return the channel – this is what we call the cause and consequences,” says Andre Howell, a hotel worker at Panama City Historical Center.
“They don’t give a Panaman channel the right way … no Panamani [the] used, “he said.
