Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday ruled out any negotiations with the United States over the Panama Canal, after Donald Trump said that the US would reclaim the waterway during his inauguration as president last week.
“I can’t negotiate, much less begin a negotiation over the canal,” Mulino said in his weekly press conference. “That’s sealed. The canal is Panama’s.”
The president was addressing the upcoming trip of new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Central America. Last week, a spokeswoman confirmed the trip, without, however, naming the individual countries that Rubio would visit in his first trip abroad in the role.
According to US media, stops in Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic are planned from the end of this week.
In his inauguration speech on January 20, Trump laid claim to the Panama Canal. He has since bluntly stated on several occasions that the United States should have checks on the important waterway, claims that Mulino has firmly rejected.
The 82-kilometre canal connects the Atlantic with the Pacific in Central America. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century by the engineering corps of the US Army.
On December 31, 1999, the US handed over the canal administration to Panama. The transaction was negotiated by the recently deceased Democratic US president Jimmy Carter.
Source link : https://www.yahoo.com/news/panamas-president-says-canal-not-074534442.html
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Publish date : 2025-01-30 18:45:00
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