Panamanians torch US Flag. Photo: Kawsachun News/File photo.
Panamanians protested Trump’s recent statements about regaining control of the Panama Canal, calling it a direct attack on Panama’s sovereignty.
Panamanian demonstrators gathered outside the residence of the U.S. ambassador to Panama to protest threats made by newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump to retake the Panama Canal. Some protesters held a sign that read: “Donald Trump: The Panama Canal Is Not For Sale!” At one point, a U.S. flag was set ablaze during the demonstration, which was in defense of national sovereignty and against U.S. interference.
During his inaugural address for his second nonconsecutive term as president, Trump doubled down on his earlier threat to reimpose control over the canal. Speaking before former US presidents, and lawmakers, and political allies he said the Panama Canal was “foolishly…given to the country of Panama after the United States. The United States, I mean, think about this, spent more money on this project than had ever been spent before and lost 38,000 lives in the process. We’ve been treated very badly because of this foolish gift, which should never have been made, and Panama’s promise to us has been broken. The purpose of our deal—and the spirit of our treaty—has been completely violated. American ships are being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape, or form, including the United States Navy. And, above all, China is operating the Panama Canal. We didn’t give it to China; we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back. Above all, my message to Americans today is that it is time for us to once again act with courage, vigor, and the vitality of history’s greatest civilization.”
Not long after Trump’s comments, Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino released a statement expressing rejection of the remarks. “I must comprehensively reject the words of President Donald Trump,” said Mulino, adding that, “the canal is and will remain Panama’s.”
The Panamanian head of state reminded his counterpart that “There [can be] no presence of any nation in the world that interferes.”
Mulino also took exception to the unfounded notion that the US somehow “gave” the canal to Panama. “The Canal was not a concession from anyone. It was the result of generational struggles that peaked in 1999, as a product of the Torrijos-Carter treaty, and from then to now, for 25 years, in an uninterrupted fashion, we have managed it and expanded it with responsibility to serve the world and its commerce, including the United States.”
“Dialogue is always the way to clear up the stated issues without undermining our rights, total sovereignty and property of our Canal,” said Mulino.
In 1978, US President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian general and nationalist leader Omar Torrijos, signed and exchanged treaties which would give control of the Panama Canal to Panama on December 31, 1999.
Deepening imperialist rhetoric in his speech, Trump emphasized that the US government “will pursue our Manifest Destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars.”
