Mexico supports Panama in the wake of US President-elect Donald Trump’s remarks about his intention to return the Panama Canal to American ownership, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said.
“We are in solidarity with the president of Panama, who said that the Panama Canal belongs to the Panamanians,” Sheinbaum told reporters on Monday.
At the same time, trade unions and social organisations held a rally outside the Panamanian parliament to protest Trump’s remarks.
“We reject Donald Trump’s threats. This is Panamanian territory. We will defend it [the canal],” Panamanian National Union of Workers of Construction and Similar Industries Secretary General Saul Mendez told RIA Novosti.
The protesters burned the US flag, saying Trump is an enemy of Panama.
Trump said on Sunday that he would demand a quick return of the Panama Canal to US ownership due to high fees for its passage. The politician said that the Panama Canal was critically important for US trade, as well as for the rapid deployment of US Navy forces in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. He added that the United States was the largest user of the canal, providing over 72pc of all passage through it.
Commenting on Trump’s statement on Sunday, Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino said that the country’s sovereignty was non-negotiable and that the Panama Canal fully belonged to Panama under the 1977 treaty.
The Panama Canal is an artificial waterway on the territory of Panama in Central America, crossing the Isthmus of Panama at its lowest point and connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It is one of the most important transportation waterways of international importance.
