According to Panamanians, the United States should not regain control of the canal that bears the country’s name, even though President Donald Trump has called for this to happen.
When Panama formally assumed control of canal operations from the United States in 1999, most people believed the issue was resolved. However, during his campaign, he suggested that the engineering marvel that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans was being operated by China and should be returned to U.S. control.
In his inaugural speech this week, Trump reiterated that assertion, stating, “We’re taking back the Panama Canal, which is operated by China.” As part of a Latin American and Caribbean tour that begins late next week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Panama.
As he and other Panamanian leaders attempted to secure international backing this week for maintaining control of the canal, Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino rejected the idea during his remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Former canal administrator Jorge Luis Quijano is one of those leaders who maintains that Panama, not China, is in charge of the waterway. Additionally, he refuted Trump’s claim that American ships pay more than those from other nations to use the canal.
According to Quijano, the cost of passing through the 51-mile channel that passes through the Panamanian Isthmus is the same for a ship flying the Panamanian flag as it is for a ship flying the American flag. The cost varies according to the size of the vessel, and huge container ships may have to pay up to $1.2 million.
When the United States still operated the canal, Quijano said he began working there in 1975 after earning his engineering degree from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. He claimed that when he first started, the supervisors were Americans, but that soon, Panamanians took over as managers, and the Americans retired.
During his 44 years of employment at the canal, Quijano remarked sarcastically, “I saw the entire movie.” He went on to become vice president of operations and oversaw a restoration project that increased the channel’s capacity in 2016.
“I will never forget the price Panamanians paid for the right to run the canal in their own country,” said 72-year-old Humberto Arcia, who grew up in the Chorrillo neighborhood, two miles from the canal.
The United States was granted the authority to construct and oversee the Panama Canal by the Hay-Bunau-Varilla pact, which was signed in 1903. Following a French construction team’s unsuccessful attempt to construct the ambitious passage, construction got underway in 1904.
By the time the enormous project was finished in 1914, over 5,000 construction workers—350 of whom were Americans—had died. The majority of the employees were from Caribbean countries.
Riots and protests over US intervention in the Central American country’s politics and control over the canal characterized Panama’s relationship with the US.
According to the U.S. National Archives, anti-American riots occurred in Panama in 1964 when American students attending Balboa High School in the U.S.-controlled Canal Zone were not permitted to display the Panamanian flag next to the American flag. Canal workers and their family resided in the Canal Zone, a 10-mile concession of the United States.
At least 20 people were killed in conflicts with the U.S. troops, National Guard, and Canal Zone Police during three days of rioting, which worsened as students from several high schools outside the Canal Zone marched to its entrance. Every year on January 9, a national holiday known as the Day of Martyrs, the protests are remembered.
When he lived close to the Canal, Arcia, a former lawyer and banker, recalls listening to the students’ families discuss their loss. He claimed that their anguish permanently altered their families’ life.
Although the riots were a watershed in Panama’s history, the Torrijos-Carter Treaty, which would finally result in Panamanian supervision, was not signed until 1977 by President Jimmy Carter and Omar Torrijos, the country’s military leader.
On December 31, 1999, the Panama Canal Authority took complete command.
According to U.S. historian David McCullough’s book The Path across the Seas, “no tonnage or toll statistics can begin to convey the grandeur of what was accomplished.” The fifty miles across the oceans were among the hardest ever won by human labor and invention. The canal is primarily a manifestation of that ancient and admirable yearning to unite people and bridge the gap. The work is a product of civilization.
In 1994, the Panama Canal received the title as one of the seven wonders of the contemporary world.
The canal is currently Panama’s main source of income and one of the most significant economic channels with the United States. The U.S. State Department claims that the canal brings in more than $5 billion annually for the nation’s finances.
According to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), the canal not only draws companies that create jobs in sectors like finance, insurance, and logistics, but it also generates revenue from the ships that travel through.
According to Panamanians, the canal is an integral element of their identity.
According to Marjorie Miller, a Panamanian business expert, her great-grandfather, John Miller, came to Panama from Jamaica to work at the canal.He resided with other canal laborers in the Red Tank, an American labor camp, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics.
Because of my forefathers, I’ve always understood the canal’s significance to our nation, she remarked. Panama is the Panama Canal. It is our most valuable resource.
Miller expressed her frustration on social media with remarks made by Panamanians that the United States could likely manage the canal more effectively than Panama.
She claimed that the remarks were the result of ignorance and that many of the younger generation in her nation lacked the historical background necessary to comprehend the significance of the canal for Panama.
Miller added that Panama severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 2017 and forged relationships with China, which may have contributed to Trump’s remarks over China’s role in the canal’s operations.
We used to be buddies, but now we hear her say, “We want your canal.” Given that the United States is our top trading partner, that is a significant shift.
At a news briefing on Wednesday, Mao Ning, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, stated that Trump’s remarks against China and the canal are unfounded.
According to Mao, no nation has direct or indirect influence over the Panama Canal, and Panama’s independence and sovereignty are unassailable. China is not involved in the canal’s operation or management. China has never interfered. We acknowledge the Canal as a permanently neutral international waterway and respect Panama’s sovereignty over it.
Quijano, the former vice president of operations, said he doubts the United States could easily run the canal because it takes 12 years of training for an engineer to learn the complicated system of locks and water elevators that route giant ships through the canal.
The answer is no, he answered, if he believes he will take it back and then we would run it for him. All we have to do is respect international conventions and national sovereignty.
Arcia, who grew up near the canal, said Trump needs to change his tone toward Panama: What we always want is a beautiful relationship of equality, not submission.