The vice chancellor of Panama, Carlos Hoyos, said that his country “has always been a mediator par excellence” and President Mulino has expressed willingness to welcome certain people “from the Venezuelan regime.”
Panama is running as a mediator between the United States and Venezuela at a time of high tension between both countries and in the face of possible action by Washington against Nicolás Maduro, for which it could “host certain people from the Venezuelan regime,” he stated in an interview with EFE the Panamanian vice chancellor, Carlos Hoyos.
“Panama has always been a mediating country par excellence and President Mulino (of Panama, José Raúl) has even said that if to resolve the situation in Venezuela he has to welcome certain people from the Venezuelan regime, we would be willing to do so temporarily,” he stated on the sidelines of the Doha Forum, which ends this Sunday, December 7 in the Qatari capital.
Panama announced this September that consular relations with Venezuela were restored solely for immigration issues, after they were suspended last year following Mulino’s questioning of the results of the 2024 presidential elections, in which Maduro was proclaimed the winner amid allegations of fraud by the opposition.
The United States maintains a military deployment in the Caribbean, under the argument of combating drug trafficking, but which Caracas has denounced as a “threat” that seeks to promote a change of Government.
In addition, Venezuela is suffering from an air connectivity crisis that originated after the notice issued on November 21 by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in which it urged “extreme caution” when flying over this country and the southern Caribbean in the face of what it considers “a potentially dangerous situation” in the area.
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The Panama Canal, in the spotlight
Faced with a possible US action in Venezuela and with Washington’s reinforced military presence in the Caribbean, the vice chancellor expressed “great concern that something could happen” both in his country and in the region, since it could “destabilize and affect everyone.”
According to the vice chancellor, the Canal is the largest “asset in the world” and therefore “the whole world has to make sure to protect it”, in case it is affected in any way by tensions in the Caribbean.
«With respect to the Panama Canal, I believe that the United States is the country possibly most interested in ensuring that there is no type of interruption in the Panama Canal. And it is our job to ensure that we continue working within the Canal with that neutrality that obliges us and about which we have a very deep conviction,” he stated.
And he pointed out that he does not believe that we will see “any type of disruption due to a war conflict,” given that “the consequences of a, let’s say, limited, closed channel are felt everywhere.”
In fact, for Panama – to which the Canal contributes “close to 3,000 million dollars to the State coffers every year” – it is a “very important source for the financing of our own projects”, so any “potential interruption in that would be very complicated for us.”
The “impass” with the US, overcome
At the beginning of the year, good relations between the United States and Panama were strained after Trump promised to “retake” the Panama Canal.
“This initial impasse that we saw in the (Trump) Government seems to me to have been largely overcome and right now the conversations are focused on all types of collaboration, mainly on trade issues, immigration and security issues,” said Hoyos.
For this reason, he is sure that they are already “much better aligned” with President Trump’s Government and that “what is coming in the coming years is going to be fabulous,” he concluded.
With information from EFE
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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