President-elect Donald J. Trump’s suggestion Tuesday that the United States could take back the Panama Canal, including by force, unsettled Panamanians who have lived with the U.S. military presence in the canal zone and were once invaded by U.S. forces. before.
Few took President Trump’s threats very seriously, but Panama’s Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha said his country’s position at a press conference just hours after the U.S. president-elect mused aloud about reclaiming the U.S.-built canal. I made it clear. However, it moved to Panama in the late 1990s.
“The sovereignty of our canals is non-negotiable and is part of a history of struggle and irreversible conquest,” Mr. Martínez-Acha said. “Let me be clear: the canal belongs to the Panamanian people and always will be.”
Experts said Trump’s real goal may have been intimidation, perhaps aimed at securing favorable treatment from the Panamanian government for American ships using the passage. More broadly, they said, he may be trying to send a strong message throughout the region that is critical to his goal of controlling the flow of migrants heading to the U.S. border.
“If the United States ignores international law and acts like Vladimir Putin, it could invade Panama and restore the canal,” said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America program at the Wilson Center in Washington. “No one would see it that way.” said. “This is a legal act and it will not only cause serious damage to its image but also destabilize the canal.”
In recent weeks, as he prepares to take office, President Trump has repeatedly talked about buying Greenland from Denmark, as well as taking over the Panama Canal. He turned to expansionist themes Tuesday in a lengthy speech at his private home, Mar-a-Lago in Florida, this time not ruling out using military force to retake the canal.
“You might have to do something,” Trump said.
President Trump’s remarks did not sit well with the Panamanian people.
Raúl Arias de Para, an ecotourism entrepreneur and descendant of one of the country’s founding statesmen, said stories about American troops evoked memories of the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama among his compatriots. He said the military action at the time was aimed at: Dethroned the country’s authoritarian leader, Manuel Noriega.
“It was not an invasion to colonize or seize territory,” Arias de Para said. “It was a tragedy for those who lost their loved ones, but it freed us from a powerful dictatorship.”
“The possibility of that is so remote and absurd,” he said of President Trump’s threat to send troops to retake the canal. “Under the treaty, the United States has the right to defend the canal if its operation is threatened, but that is not the case,” he said.
Some experts said Trump may be hoping to get assurances from Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino that more will be done to stem the flow of migrants through the Darién Gap, a section of jungle where hundreds of thousands of migrants have crossed. . Towards the north, there was a surge at the U.S. border.
Mr. Mulino has already worked hard to keep immigrants out.
“There is no country with which the United States has found greater cooperation on immigration than Panama,” said Jorge Eduardo Ritter, a former foreign minister and Panama’s first canal minister.
On his first day in office, Mr. Mulino approved an agreement with the United States to curb immigration through the Darien region with the help of U.S.-funded flights to repatriate immigrants who entered Panama illegally. Since then, the number of crossings has fallen sharply, reaching the lowest level in nearly two years.
If the Trump administration were to deport undocumented immigrants in large numbers, Latin American and Caribbean countries would have to agree to accept flights carrying not only their own expelled citizens but also people from other countries. Panama did not agree to this. do.
Experts said Trump was likely seeking discounts on American ships, which make up the largest portion of those transiting the 40-mile interoceanic route. The rate hike comes as the Panama Canal Authority grapples with drought and the cost of creating new reservoirs to respond.
“I think the president-elect will accept America’s discount on the canal and declare victory,” said the Wilson Center’s Mr. Gedan.
He said many experts in the region see Trump’s belligerent rhetoric as “standard operating procedure for former presidents to use threats and intimidation even against U.S. partners and friendly countries.”
After lengthy negotiations, the United States, then under President Jimmy Carter, agreed to a plan to gradually transfer the canal it had built in Panama in the late 1970s to the country where it was located. The exchange was completed in December 1999.
Theories have been swirling this week about why President Trump seems so focused on the canal. Some have noted that giving the canal to Panama has long been a headache for Republicans.
Others said Trump was angry that the ports at the end of the canal were controlled by Hong Kong companies. Panama’s president dismissed these concerns.
“There is absolutely no Chinese interference or participation in anything related to the Panama Canal,” Mr. Mulino said at a press conference last December.
Under its constitution, Panama, a small country with more than 4 million residents and no active military, is in no position to stop U.S. forces. But it is very likely that protests will break out and paralyze the Panama Canal, which could have disastrous implications for global trade, especially in the United States, experts agree.
Mr. Ritter, Panama’s former foreign minister, said he just hoped the United States would follow international law. “This is a case of stones and eggs,” he said.
