The president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, on Wednesday accused the president of the United States, Donald Trump, of lying when he said in his speech to Congress that his administration was “claiming” the Panama Canal.
Trump was referring to an agreement announced on Tuesday for a consortium led by the US investment management company.
Panama argues that it has total control over the channel and that the operation of the ports of the Hong Kong headquarters did not equal Chinese control over the river route and, therefore, the sale to a company based in the United States would not represent any “claim” of the United States of the channel. The Panama government called a private transaction on Tuesday.
Mulino in a message posted on X on Wednesday, rejected that the agreement arose due to the pressure of the United States. “I reject in the name of Panama and all Panamanians this new affront to truth and our dignity as a nation,” he wrote. He accused Trump of “Lying again.”
Trump has talked about recovering the Panama Canal since his campaign, arguing that the United States should never have changed control to Panamanians and that the United States was being overloaded by using it.
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The Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, met with Mulino in early February and insisted that China was exerting influence on channel operations. The approach was the Chinese consortium that directed the ports. Panama rejected that China had some influence on channel operations.
“Cooperation between our governments passes through a clear understanding in terms of issues of mutual interest,” Mulino wrote. “It has nothing to do with 'claiming the channel' or with the fog of our national sovereignty.”
In a presentation, CK Hutchison Holding said Tuesday that it would sell all shares in Hutchison Port Holdings and Hutchison Port Group Holdings to the Blackrock consortium in an agreement valued at almost US $ 23 billion, including US $ 5 billion in debt.
The agreement must be approved by the Panama government.
The United States built the channel in early 1900, since it was looking for ways to facilitate the transit of commercial and military vessels between its coasts. Washington resigned from the control of the river road to Panama on December 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter. Trump has affirmed that Carter “foolishly” gave the channel.
Frank Sixt, co-manager of CK Hutchison, said in a statement that the transaction was “the result of a quick, discreet but competitive process in which numerous offers and expressions of interest were received.”
“I would like to emphasize that the transaction is purely commercial and totally not related to recent political news reports on Panama's ports,” said Sixt.
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press