The Archbishop of Panama, Bishop José Domingo Ulloa, responded to the announcement by Donald Trump, president of the United States, about his intention to recover the Panama Canal.
“American ships are being severely overloaded and not treated fairly in any way, and that includes the United States Navy,” Donald Trump said in his inaugural address after being sworn in as the 47th president of the North American nation.
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“And above all, China is operating the Panama Canal and we did not give it to China. We gave it to Panama. And we will get it back,” he added.
On the subject and in response to previous similar statements, the archbishop told the Italian agency SIR that “it is worrying that expressions have been made public that seek to attack our sovereignty, ignoring the struggle and generational sacrifice that has allowed us Panamanians to fly a single flag throughout the national territory.”
The prelate also indicated that “US President Jimmy Carter, along with General Omar Torrijos, signed a treaty between Panama and the United States that returned sovereignty over the entire national territory to us. This legacy must be maintained and respected by all parties.”
“Declarations like these should be a reason to transform the strength of our love for Panama into unity and commitment, tearing down walls of hate and resentment and building bridges of peace and justice,” he added.
After noting that he hopes that Panama does not find itself in the middle of a “crossfire” between the United States and China, Bishop Ulloa highlighted that “we Panamanians have demonstrated our ability to manage and maintain the neutrality of the Panama Canal, open to the world.” .
President Mulino’s Response to Trump’s Panama Canal Announcement
In a statement published on his X account on January 20, the president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, rejected what Trump said in his inaugural speech and reiterated what he already said on December 22, 2024:
“The Canal is and will continue to be Panama’s and its administration will continue to be under Panamanian control with respect to its permanent neutrality.”
“There is no presence of any nation in the world that interferes with our administration,” he added, without making any mention of China.
Hutchinson Ports, the company that operates the ports of Cristobal and Balboa, at both ends of the Panama Canal, and which serves “as a distribution network for Atlantic and Pacific trade routes,” has its base of operations in Hong Kong, province with a special regime from China.
On the same Monday, January 20, the Comptroller General of the Republic of Panama initiated an audit of Hutchinson Ports, reporting that the process “aims to ensure the efficient and transparent use of public resources.”
The Panama Canal
Trump has pointed out that the current tariffs are excessive and harm US companies that depend on this route to transport merchandise.
According to SIR, three out of every four ships that pass through the Panama Canal come from United States ports or have that destination.
The United States armed forces built the Panama Canal between 1904 and 1914. The United States continued to control the waterway until the Torrijos-Carter treaty provided for its handover to Panama in 1977. After a period of joint US-Panamanian control, the Panamanian government Panama took full control in 1999. It is now managed by the Panama Canal Authority, owned by the Panamanian government.
Walter Sánchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.