The president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, stated that there is no question of lending his territory for “any type of hostile act against Venezuela” and that the presence of US military personnel in Panamanian territory is due to bilateral cooperation agreements with the North American country.
This Thursday the Panamanian president was consulted about the presence of North American troops, which is estimated to be to carry out training in the jungle. “In relation to Venezuela, we have nothing to do with that, nor is Panama lending its territory for any type of hostile act against Venezuela, or against any other country in the world,” he stated.
“They are two different issues (…) one thing has nothing to do with the other,” stated Mulino, explaining that “the exercises that are agreed to be carried out with United States military units” in Panamanian territory respond to “a protocol that is authorized by the Ministry of Security not only in Darién (…) which is a suitable place, very suitable for that type of training.”
“There is no type of military presence there not authorized by Panama,” he indicated in reference to the deployment of North American military personnel in the province of Darién and in Fort Sherman, a former US Army base.
According to international media, the training includes combat, tracking and survival tactics.
Mulino also recalled that Panama periodically serves as the scene of multinational military exercises, as is the case of Panamax, which brings together security forces in the country “that come from all over.”
