Panamanian opposition politicians have accused the US of launching a “camouflaged invasion” of the country, amid simmering discontent over the government’s handling of the diplomatic crisis.
After a three-day visit by the US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, US President Donald Trump appeared to confirm that US military personnel had been deployed to the Central American country on Thursday, telling reporters: “We’ve moved a lot of troops to Panama.”
Hegseth said that the US would increase its military presence at three former US bases in the country to “secure the Panama Canal from Chinese influence.”
Photo: AFP
The last US military bases in Panama were vacated in 1999 as a condition of the 1977 Torrijos-Carter treaties to hand the canal to Panamanian ownership. Under the canal’s neutrality treaty, no foreign power can “maintain military forces, defense sites and military installations within its national territory.”
“This is a camouflaged invasion,” said Ricardo Lombana, the leader of the opposition Other Way Movement. “An invasion without firing a shot, but with a cudgel and threats.”
At a news conference on Wednesday to announce the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the US, Panamanian Minister of Public Security Frank Abrego said the agreement would not impinge on his nation’s sovereignty and the country would not accept military bases.
However, a full text of the MOU included aerial photos of Fort Sherman, Rodman Naval Base and Howard Air Force Base, with areas outlined for “training,” “humanitarian activities” and the “installation of US property.”
The Panamanian government said they are not “military bases” and that the deal is temporary, but opposition parties have rejected such claims.
“If you have an installation which is for the use of foreign soldiers and they have control over what happens inside — and Panama has to ask in advance to enter — that’s a military base,” Lombana said.
For many Panamanians, the return of US armed forces — even for supposed “joint operations” — would bring back uncomfortable memories of 1989’s Operation Just Cause, when US troops killed thousands of civilians.
A second agreement allows US Navy ships to be reimbursed for the fees they pay to the canal.
That preferential treatment would appear to contravene the neutrality treatment and could open the door to further attempts to negotiate down the fees charged by the canal.
On Thursday, a local lawyer filed a legal case against the Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, accusing him of “crimes against the international personality of the state.”
Frustration is growing over the government’s handling of the diplomatic crisis. Since Trump declared his plan to “take back” the Panama Canal in his Jan. 20 inauguration speech, all communication on the topic has been through Mulino and the details of negotiations kept largely secret.
This has led to serious differences in the US and Panamanian accounts of those negotiations.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited in early February, Mulino told reporters that the meeting had been “very cordial” and that the canal was not under threat.
However, Rubio said the situation around the canal was “unacceptable” and Trump continued to call for the return of the canal.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS