Chile and Panama Seek to Strengthen Cooperation with Bilateral Commission
The right wing governments of Chile and Panama will form a bilateral commission to address an agenda of common interest, the Presidency of the Republic announced Wednesday March 11. This decision arose in a meeting between the Panamanian president, José Raúl Mulino above left, and the Chilean president, José Antonio Kast above right, who took office this Wednesday in the city of Valparaíso. It was announced that the topics of interest include trade, security, transportation, and the agricultural sector, among others.
It is worth remembering the historical ties and strategic role of Chile as the first Latin American user and the fourth worldwide of the Panama Canal. Although the mining issue was not mentioned in the official communication from the Presidency, it is important to highlight that on January 15, 2026, Mulino stated that the Chilean experience in this matter would be taken into account. In that weekly conference, Mulino stated that the process to decide the future of the mine is progressing with expert advice and that Chile would send three specialists from the National Copper Corporation (Codelco) after his visit on March 11.
The bilateral meeting on Wednesday was also attended by Ministers Felipe Chapman (Economy and Finance), Julio Moltó (Commerce and Industries) and José Ramón Icaza (Canal Affairs). It was reported that they also held meetings with presidents of trade associations and business leaders from the Chilean private sector, including the Infrastructure Policy Council, a group of shipping companies and the Confederation of Production and Commerce. The Panamanian delegation also included First Lady Maricel Cohen de Mulino and Foreign Minister Javier Martínez Acha. Kast’s inauguration took place in the Hall of Honor of the National Congress in Valparaíso, with 1,200 guests in attendance.
María Corina Machado Did not Give a Date for her Return to Venezuela Stating that Trump is a “Key Ally”
María Corina Machado pictured below, asked the countries of the region to “support the cause for freedom and democracy in Venezuela and said Thursday that she still intends to return to Venezuela, although she did not give a date for her return, and affirmed that the Donald Trump administration continues to be a “key ally,” despite having officially recognized the government of Delcy Rodríguez.
“There are obstacles, there are complex processes, but indeed a key ally is the United States government and President Donald Trump,” said the Nobel Peace Prize laureate in Santiago, Chile, where on Wednesday she attended the inauguration of the far-right José Antonio Kast.
This is the first press conference she has given since the United States officially recognized Delcy Rodríguez, a Chavista, as the legitimate president of Venezuela on Saturday and announced the restoration of bilateral relations. Trump then indicated that the United States is “achieving a historic transformation in Venezuela,” a country with which it had broken relations in 2019, during his first term (2017-2021), when Washington recognized the opposition leader and then head of the Venezuelan Parliament, Juan Guaidó, as interim president.
Rodríguez assumed the role of interim president on January 5, two days after the capture of Nicolás Maduro, and since then Venezuela and the United States have established a process of diplomatic rapprochement. “The only nation in the world that has risked the lives of its citizens to achieve freedom in Venezuela is the United States,” added Machado, who left Venezuela last December and intends to return “soon” in a return that “will be harmonious and coordinated with allies.”
Phases
The opposition leader recalled that Trump’s plan is a three-phase process – stabilization, recovery and democratic transition – and that they “will not be satisfied” if there is not “full democracy, full freedom, full justice”. “This is going to be a Venezuelan-style transition,” she added. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado applauded the presidential handover ceremony in Chile on Wednesday between progressive Gabriel Boric and far-right José Antonio Kast, saying that Venezuelans “long for a gesture as simple as one president removing the presidential sash and placing it on another.”
Support For Freedom
Machado, who on Thursday called for a large gathering in a Santiago park with the Venezuelan community living in Chile, asked the countries of the region to “support the cause for freedom and democracy in Venezuela” so that its citizens can return. Regarding the mass expulsions of Venezuelan migrants promised by some of the governments in the region, including the newly assumed Kast, she asked to “protect good Venezuelans, who have not committed any crime.”
“Every country has the right to guarantee its security and those who commit crimes must be judged, but we hope that those fleeing persecution in Venezuela will be protected and given an opportunity,” she added in a country that hosts some 700,000 Venezuelan citizens. During her trip to Chile, the opposition leader met with various leaders of the region and with King Felipe VI of Spain, whom she thanked for “his words of support for the struggle of the Venezuelan people” and whom she highlighted as “a symbol of unity, not only in Spain, but also in Latin America.”
