(AFP) – Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino on Wednesday accused his US counterpart Donald Trump of “lying” about Washington taking back the Panama Canal. “Once again, President Trump is lying. The Panama Canal is not in the process of recovery,” Mulino wrote on X. “I reject, on behalf of Panama and all Panamanians, this new affront to the truth and to our dignity as a nation,” Mulino added, after Trump said that his administration had started to take back the vital waterway.
“To further enhance our national security, my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we’ve already started doing it,” Trump said in a speech to Congress Tuesday. “We’re taking it back.” Under mounting pressure from Washington, Hong Kong firm Hutchison said Tuesday it had agreed to sell its lucrative Panama Canal ports to a US-led consortium. CK Hutchison Holdings said it would offload a 90-percent stake in the Panama Ports Company (PPC) and sell a slew of other non-Chinese ports to a group led by asset manager BlackRock. The sellers will receive $19 billion in cash, the company said.
Hutchison subsidiary PPC has for decades run ports at Balboa and Cristobal on the Pacific and Atlantic ends of the interoceanic waterway. But since taking office in January, Trump has complained that China controls the canal — a vital strategic asset that the United States once ran. He has refused to rule out a military invasion of Panama to regain control, sparking angry protests and a complaint to the United Nations by the Central American nation.
Since 1999, the canal has been run by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) — an autonomous entity whose board of directors is appointed by Panama’s president and National Assembly. The 80-kilometer (50-mile) long canal handles five percent of global maritime trade, and 40 percent of US container traffic. Beijing has consistently denied interfering in the canal.
© 2024 AFP
This is just another distraction tactic from Trump to divert attention from his domestic issues. It’s sad to see how low politics have sunk.
I find it hard to believe that Trump would even think he can just take back the canal like that It belongs to Panama now and it should stay that way
I completely agree with you! The canal’s history is clear, and it’s outrageous for Trump to make such claims. Panama deserves respect over its own territory!
LOL! Can you imagine if the US really tried to invade Panama again? 🐒🌎 That would start a whole new wave of protests and wars. ✊✈️ Totally unnecessary! 🎉✨
Right? 😂 This whole situation is just ridiculous! It’s like they haven’t learned anything from history. We don’t need more conflict, we need cooperation, especially after everything that happened in the past! 🌍✌️
I don’t trust anything that comes out of Trump’s mouth. He lies about everything. The canal is not just yours to take back, man.
It’s wild how he just says whatever pops into his head! The canal is definitely not something he can just ‘take back.’ How does he expect that to even work?
I don’t know much about politics, but this sounds like a joke. Trump is really trying to reclaim something he lost, huh? Haha!
Haha, yeah, it does sound ridiculous! How can he just claim something like that? It’s not like he can just snap his fingers and get the canal back! 🙄
Honestly, I think if we started messing with Panama again, it would just be like trying to punch a horse with a floppy disk. Let them manage their own stuff like they have for years now, just as we shouldn’t be using compasses in a world of GPS.