234 Personalities Reject Trump’s Ideas about the Panama Canal

The Latin American Reflection Roundtable, made up of 234 political figures from the region, former foreign ministers, former ambassadors and academics , considers it irresponsible that , after the success of the signing and compliance of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, intends to place the Panama Canal in a geopolitical dispute with China or that arguments are used in this sense that ignore Panama’s titular sovereignty over that route and its territory.
The document is signed by former President Martín Torrijos and his former Vice Presidents Samuel Lewis Navarro and Rubén Arosemena; Enrique Iglesias, former President of the IDB; former Minister Héctor Alemán; former Vice President of Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramírez; former Foreign Minister Janaina Tewaney; former Director for the Americas at the White House Security Council, Arturo Valenzuela; former Secretary of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza; as well as former deputies Juan Diego Vásquez, José Blandón, Teresita de Arias and Luis Ernesto Carles, among others.
The statement highlights that the Torrijos-Carter Treaties were signed in 1977 , as a result of the tireless struggle of the Panamanian people ; and their implementation and compliance were respected by successive North American administrations and Panama achieved full sovereignty over the Canal and all of its territory. It is also noted that Panama has demonstrated absolute capacity in the management of the Canal and responsibility in respecting the neutrality of the interoceanic route and has also carried out an expansion.
President Trump’s statements ignore this historical reality and distort what has been achieved with the treaties that his own country has signed and has so far respected, so it would be unthinkable and unacceptable for threats and coercion to become new instruments of United States foreign policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean, the think tank highlights. The Latin American Roundtable, always promoting the contribution of diplomacy and negotiation, declares itself in defense of the sovereignty of Panama and calls for respect for the norms and ethical principles of the international system.