Petro shows his support for his Panamanian counterpart and assures that the US president “has been wrong and contradicted”
The president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, has responded this Sunday to the Panamanian head of state, José Raúl Mulino, after he defended that “the canal is Panama’s and will continue to be so,” in reference to the statements of the American magnate in which he warned that he will ask for the “return” if the passage rates are not lowered.
“We will see,” Trump declared through his profile on his own social network, Truth Social, where minutes later he shared an image of an American flag on which one could read: “Welcome to the US Canal.”
Hours earlier, Mulino, without mentioning Trump, defended that “every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent area is Panama’s and will continue to be so,” since “the sovereignty and independence” of the country “are not negotiable.” The Panamanian president, who has mentioned the treaties that contemplate the sovereignty of the canal, has explained that the rates are set publicly and in an open audience.
The magnate criticized the “absurd” rates of passage, an “absolute scam” that “will cease immediately.” The Panama Canal is a “vital” national asset for the United States due to “its critical role for the economy and national security of the United States,” he declared.
For his part, the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, has come out against Mulino, assuring that “until the last consequences” he will be “on the side of Panama and the defense of its sovereignty,” and has criticized the position of Trump, who “has made mistakes and contradicted himself.”
“If you don’t want thousands of people crossing the Darien, increased by millions from Panama to Mexico, you must understand that it will depend on the prosperity and freedom of our people. If it seems expensive to pay to pass the Panama Canal into the hands of the Panamanians, it will be much more expensive to sink Panama, South America, Central America or Mexico into poverty,” he said.
Petro has asked the new US Administration to “talk business” but not “negotiate dignity”: “If the new US Government wants to talk business, we will talk business, face to face, and for the benefit of our people, but dignity will never be negotiated. If they don’t want us in the US, we must return all of the Americas to prosperity in independence, freedom and democratic dignity,” he concluded.
The Panama Canal, completed by the United States in 1914, was returned to the Central American country under the 1977 agreement signed by Jimmy Carter and Omar Torrijos. Panama regained full control of the trade route — located between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean — in December 1999.
