What Panamanians think of Trump's threat to take back the canal

Panama says control of the canal that bears its name should not be returned to the United States, despite calls from President Donald Trump that “we want it back.”

Although most thought the matter was over when Panama officially took over canal operations from the United States in 1999, the issue arose during his campaign when he suggested that the engineering marvel linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans was operated by China and Resurfaced. should be returned to American control.

Trump reiterated that claim in his inauguration speech this week, saying “China is operating the Panama Canal” and “we are taking it back.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Panama on a tour of Latin America and the Caribbean that begins late next week.

Panamanian President José Raul Mulino dismissed the idea in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he and other Panamanian leaders this week tried to gain international support to put the canal at the national under jurisdiction.

Those leaders include former canal administrator Jorge Luis Quijano, who insists Panama, not China, manages the waterway. He also pushed back against Trump's complaints that it costs more for U.S. ships to pass through the canal than other countries.

“Panamanian-flagged ships pay the same fee as U.S.-flagged ships,” Quijano said, adding that rates depend on the size of the ship, with large container ships potentially paying as much as $1.2 million to transit the 51-mile-long waterway. cost. Crossing the Isthmus of Panama.

Quijano said he started working on the canal in 1975 after graduating from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, when the United States still controlled the canal. When he started working, Americans were supervisors, but Panamanians eventually became managers and “the Americans retired,” he said.

“I watched the whole movie,” joked Quijano, who worked at the canal for 44 years and oversaw the transformation, eventually becoming vice president of operations and leading the reconstruction effort that expanded the canal’s capacity in 2016.

Humberto Arcia, 72, who lived in the Chorrillo community two miles from the canal as a child, said he would never forget the price Panamanians paid for the right to operate the canal in their country .

The Treaty of Hay-Bunau-Varilla signed in 1903 gave the United States the right to build and manage the Panama Canal. Work began in 1904 after a French construction team failed in their attempt to build the ambitious passage.

By the time it was completed in 1914, the massive project claimed the lives of more than 5,000 construction workers, 350 of them American citizens. Most workers come from Caribbean countries.

Panama's relationship with the United States has been marked by riots and demonstrations against U.S. involvement in the Central American country's affairs and control of the canal.

According to the U.S. National Archives, anti-American riots broke out in Panama in 1964 after American students at Balboa High School in the U.S.-controlled Canal Zone did not allow the Panamanian flag to fly next to the American flag. The Canal Zone was a 10-mile concession in the United States where canal employees and their families lived.

The protests escalated. Students from many high schools outside the Canal Zone marched to the entrance of the Canal Zone and clashed with the US military, National Guard and Canal Zone police, resulting in at least 20 deaths. during three days of rioting. These protests are commemorated every year on January 9, a national holiday known as Martyrs' Day.

Assia, a retired banker and lawyer, remembers hearing relatives of students talking about their losses when he lived near the canal. “Their pain has changed their families' lives forever,” he said.

This riot was a turning point in Panamanian history, but it was not until 1977 that President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian military leader Omar Torrijos signed the Torrijos-Carter Treaty, which ultimately led to the supervision.

The Panama Canal Authority took complete control of the canal on December 31, 1999.

American historian David McCullough wrote in his book “Ocean Road”: “The fifty miles between oceans is one of the most difficult distances that humans have won through hard work and ingenuity, without any Statistics about tonnage or tolls can begin to convey the grandeur of what has been accomplished. Canals primarily express the ancient and noble desire to bridge divisions and bring people together.”

In 1994, the Panama Canal was named one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

Today, the canal is one of the United States' most important trade routes and Panama's largest source of revenue. According to the U.S. State Department, the canal brings more than $5 billion annually to the state coffers.

According to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), the ships passing through not only bring revenue but also attract businesses, creating jobs in industries such as logistics, insurance and banking.

Panamanians say the canal is part of their national identity.

Marjorie Miller, a Panamanian business consultant, said her great-grandfather, John Miller, moved to Panama from Jamaica to work on the canal. U.S. Census Bureau records show that he lived with other canal workers in an American labor camp known as the “Red Tank.”

“I always knew how important the canal was to our country because of my ancestors,” she said. “The Panama Canal is Panama. It's our greatest asset.”

Miller said she was frustrated by Panamanian comments on social media that the United States might manage the canal better than Panama.

“These comments come from ignorance,” she said, adding that many young people in her country lack the historical knowledge to understand the importance of the canal to Panama.

Miller also said Trump's comments about China's involvement in operating the canal may have come about because Panama severed ties with Taiwan and established diplomatic ties with China in 2017.

“One day we were friends, now we hear, 'We want your canal,'” she said. “It's a huge change when the United States becomes our largest trading partner.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said at a press conference on Wednesday that Trump's remarks about China and the canal were baseless.

“Panama's sovereignty and independence are non-negotiable, and the Panama Canal is not under the direct or indirect control of any country,” Mao Zedong said. “China does not participate in the management or operation of the canal. China has never interfered. We respect Panama's sovereignty over the canal and recognize it as a permanently neutral international waterway.”

Quijano, the former vice president of operations, said he doubted the United States could easily operate the canal because an engineer would need 12 years of training to learn the complex system of locks and water elevators that control giant ships through the canal.

“If he thinks he's going to take it back and then we're going to run it for him, the answer is no,” he said. “We all just need to respect treaties and national sovereignty.”

Asia, who grew up near the canal, said Trump needed to change his attitude toward Panama: “What we always want is a beautiful relationship of equals, not submission.”