Panamanian movements vow to resist Trump's threats to their ...

Panamanian movements have expressed their readiness to resist US President Donald Trump’s threats to Panama’s sovereignty. On January 20, as part of a mobilization of trade unions and social movements in Panama City in defense of the public pension system, they will also denounce the expansionist threats of Trump.

At a rally in December, Trump said that the fees being charged at the Panama canal are too high and that if they did not come down, “we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, quickly and without question.”

The shocking declaration was met with widespread rejection from people across the political spectrum, with right-wing President José Raúl Mulino stating: “Every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent area belong to Panama and will continue to be. The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable.”

Leading up to Trump’s inauguration, one of the largest trade unions in the country, the Single National Union of Workers in the Construction and Similar Industries (SUNTRACS) of Panama has been speaking out about Trump’s threats. Saúl Méndez of SUNTRACS said in an interview with Telesur, “Trump tries to erase with a single whim, what was conquered here with the life of patriots, but today more than ever the defense of sovereignty is intact in the Panamanian people.”

Méndez, accused that the expansionist intention of the Trump administration is a response to the emergence of new powers such as China and Russia, as well as the importance that multilateral agreements such as the BRICS have taken.

Regarding the Panama Canal, Méndez said “We must warn that Donald Trump has absolutely nothing to claim from Panama. The Canal is Panamanian, and the sovereignty of the Canal is exercised by the Republic of Panama through the self-determination of the Panamanian people…These statements by Trump are unacceptable and inadmissible. This position must be established as invariable; it is what we from the popular movements have raised over the years, and it is what we demand from the current government of José Raúl Mulino, who has to face this situation firmly and stop saying things like that the US border is in the Darién [part of the Panamanian territory through which hundreds of thousands of migrants pass northward].”

In an interview for the Revolutionary Action Group, Méndez declared that Trump’s declarations regarding Greenland, the Gulf of Mexico, the Panama Canal, the possible declaration of drug trafficking groups as terrorist groups to justify a possible invasion of other territories by the US Army, etc., are part of an “Imperial madness…in the face of its weakness [that the United States is experiencing today], are part of an “Imperial madness…in the face of its weakness [that the United States is going through today] …. The reaction of the peoples of Latin America must be one of unity and demand that their governments show solidarity with the countries that could be attacked, as is the case of Panama.”