Despite the differences on the channel, the Mulino President stressed that the United States is the “privileged relationship” of Panama. “It’s not China,” he added
Panamanian President, José Raúl Mulino, He ruled out on Thursday, January 30, any negotiation with the United States over the Panama Canal, on the eve of the visit of the head of US diplomacy, Marco Rubio.
“Around the channel theme is impossible, I cannot negotiate, much less open a negotiation process on the channel, that is sealed, the channel is from Panama,” said the president at his weekly press conference.
Mulino said that, however, there are “common” issues such as migration and fight against drug trafficking, organized crime and money laundering that can be treated with the United States. “On the very difficult, impossible channel,” he insisted.
“We are more than willing to talk with respect and very clarity on the day the meeting with the Secretary of State is held,” Mulino added, without specifying the date of the visit.
*Also read: Migration for the Darién decreased 93% in the first 23 days of January, Panama reports
Rubio will undertake his first trip abroad on the weekend as Secretary of State, who will take him to Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.
The visit will be made at times of tension for the mass deportations of Latin American migrants and the threat of President Donald Trump to resume the control of the Panama Canal because, according to him, he is “operated” by China.
Despite the differences on the channel, Mulino, who has rejected Trump’s claims, stressed that the United States is the “privileged relationship” of Panama. “It’s not China,” he added.
“The relationship with the United States is strong, it has always been, it has had high and low, love and hate, but there has always been a strong relationship that underlies and has allowed to overcome very, very complicated situations,” he said.
The channel, built by the United States and opened in 1914, has been under Panamanian sovereignty for 25 years by virtue of signed treaties between Washington and Panama.
In the eye of the hurricane is the company Hutchison Holdings, based in Hong Kong. Since 1997, this company operates under concession the ports of Balboa and Cristóbal, in both entries of the interoceanic route.
However, that subsidiary, Panama Ports Company, to which the Panamanian Comptroller opened an audit, does not make any decision on the road, which is under the control of an autonomous Panamanian entity, the authority of the Panama Canal (ACP).
The ports “are not in the domain of governments or military forces of any nation” nor have “any” interference in the administration of the channel, “said Mulino.
*Journalism in Venezuela is exercised in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments arranged for the punishment of the word, especially the laws “against hatred”, “against fascism” and “against blockade.” This content is being published taking into account the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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