Leaders of Mexico and Colombia demonstrated their support for Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino and his country's sovereignty over the Panama Canal, following statements by the elected US president, Donald Trump, about the possibility of demanding the return of the important transoceanic waterway.
Latin American leaders supported Panama and insisted on Monday on the sovereignty of the Central American nation over the canal that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans after statements by the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, that could try to regain control of the road built on the Panamanian isthmus.
“The Panama Canal belongs to the Panamanians. There is our solidarity, our support, for the president of Panama, for the people of Panama,” said the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, in her usual morning press conference.
The Colombian president Gustavo Petro also spoke about the controversy. “Until the last consequences I will be at the side of Panama and the defense of its sovereignty,” he wrote on the social network X.
Sheinbaum and Petro reaffirmed their support for their Panamanian counterpart, José Raúl Mulino, who categorically rejected Trump's threats. The president-elect – who will take possession of the White House on January 20 – stated at a rally that the US “foolishly” ceded the Panama Canal to its Central American ally.
Controversy over a former common project
The United States built a large part of the Panama Canal at the beginning of the 20th century in an attempt to facilitate the transit of commercial and military ships through a transoceanic waterway, which it then administered for almost a hundred years. In 1977, both countries signed the Torrijos-Carter treaties that paved the way for the canal to return to Panamanian control as of the last day of 1999.
“They are scamming us in the Panama Canal,” said the Republican, referring to the fees that ships must pay to cross the passage. “If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America, in its entirety, quickly and without questions asked.”
Mulino published a video and a statement on the subject on his official account on X, stating that “every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent area belongs to Panama and will continue to be so.” Without mentioning Trump, the Panamanian president also addressed the increase in tariffs, saying they are set by experts who take into account operating costs, as well as supply and demand factors.
Reactions in the region
“If it seems expensive (to Trump) to pay to pass the Panama Canal into the hands of Panamanians, it will be much more expensive to plunge Panama, South America, Central America or Mexico into poverty,” Petro insisted in his publication on social networks.
The left-wing Colombian president warned that “if the new US government wants to talk about business, we will talk about business, face to face, and for the benefit of our people, but dignity will never be negotiated.”
“President-elect Trump's statements about the Panama Canal are unfortunate,” said Alberto Alemán, administrator of the Canal between 1996 and 2012. “The transfer of the Canal to Panama was a long process of struggle, sacrifice, complex negotiations and historic efforts of both countries”.
The secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, responded to Mulino's video with a publication on X where he called for respect for the bilateral agreement on the Canal. “We expect the fullest and unrestricted compliance with the agreements signed, approved and in force between the two countries,” he wrote.
The waterway, which allows up to 14,000 ships to cross annually, accounts for 2.5% of global maritime trade and is critical to U.S. imports and exports.
It is unclear how Trump would try to regain control over the Panama Canal.
(With information from Reuters and The Associated Press)