North American President-elect Donald Trump announced this Wednesday that he will appoint Kevin Marino Cabrera as ambassador to Panama, reiterating that this Central American country is “defrauding” the United States in the Panama Canal.
“I am pleased to announce that Kevin Marino Cabrera will assume the role of United States Ambassador to the Republic of Panama, a country that is defrauding us in the Panama Canal“, declared the Republican in a statement.
Marino is a county commissioner for Miami-Dade County, in the state of Florida (southeast), one of the counties with the highest proportion of Latin Americans.
After Trump insinuated that the United States should regain control of the Panama Canal, on Sunday Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino reiterated the country’s sovereignty over the strategic shipping point.which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. “Every square meter of the Panama Canal and the adjacent area belongs to Panama and will continue to do so,” since the country’s “sovereignty and independence” are “non-negotiable,” Mulino said.
Control of the Panama Canal, concluded by the United States in 1914, was fully returned to the Central American country in 1999, under an agreement signed by former Democratic president Jimmy Carter in 1977.
Without directly mentioning Donald Trump, the Panamanian head of state mentioned the treaties that cover the canal’s sovereignty and explained that tariffs are set publicly and in an open audience. Hours before, Donald Trump had criticized the “ridiculous tariffs” imposed on US ships using the Panama Canal and threatened to demand that the US regain control of the canal.
After José Raúl Mulino’s statements, Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social network “We’ll see” and, minutes later, shared an image of an American flag with the caption: “Welcome to the United States channel”.
Trump suggested on Saturday that China is exerting increasing influence over the canal, a vital shipping route for American businesses and interests. “It was only Panama’s job to administer it, not China or any other country,” Trump wrote. “We would not and will NEVER let it fall into the wrong hands!”
On Monday, China assured that the Panama Canal “is a great creation of the people” of Panama and said that it “has always respected the fair struggle of the Panamanian people for sovereignty” over this route. The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, also guaranteed that “until the last consequences” he will be “on Panama’s side and in defense of its sovereignty”, and criticized Trump’s “errors and contradictions”.
On Tuesday, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) expressed the “strongest rejection” of Trump’s threat to Panama. The 10 member states of the alliance, created in 2004 by Venezuela and Cuba, considered that Trump’s statements represent “an attack on Panama’s sovereignty” and a threat to Latin America and the Caribbean.
ALBA, established to combat US influence in the region, stated that the union is the “only way” to “confront the voracity of empires”, while reiterating solidarity with the Government of Panama.
Source: www.jornaldenegocios.pt
