Panama and the United States have signed a joint statement in security matters on the Panama Canal, within the framework of a visit to the country of the US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, and given the recent warnings from Washington, which has come to put on the table to control infrastructure.
The Ministry for Affairs of the Panama Canal has indicated in a statement that the document “reiterates respect and recognition of Panamanian sovereignty over the interoceanic route, as established by the Treaty of Neutrality and the legal framework that governs its operation, as well as the constitutional title and the Organic Law of the Canal”.
“In addition, it is indicated that we will work on the development of a mechanism that allows compensation for services provided in safety for war tolls and auxiliary ships, looking for a neutral cost scheme,” he said, before stating that this mechanism will be “evaluated together” with the Panamanian Ministry of Security.
He also stressed that the declaration “highlights existing cooperation” with the United States “in areas such as engineering, security and cybersecurity, which will also be part of the analysis to define the compensation mechanism”, while underlines that the document “constitutes a first step to establish this model, which will be developed in future stages.”
After that, Panama Public Security Minister Frank Abrego has highlighted in his account in the social network X that “Panama recovered his total sovereignty on the channel with dignity and determination” through the Torrijos-Carter treaties, signed in 1977 and that guaranteed the Panamanian control of the channel from 1999.
“That victory reminds us that we own our territory, our resources and our destiny which is not at stake,” he said, while arguing that the signed agreement “is based on the framework of the Neutrality Treaty and in full respect for the Panamanian Constitution, with the only interest of strengthening the lines of action and cooperation against any hybrid threat that threatens regional stability.”
For his part, Hegesh has pointed out that his visit to Panama, in which he has also visited US military deployed in the country, has been “productive.” “It was great to meet with so many of our regional partners and listen to how we are working together, training together and exercising together.”
“The security of our hemisphere is one of the main priorities of the United States Department of Defense,” he has settled in his X account, a day after warning that Washington will not allow China to endanger operations in the Panama Canal and will respond to Beijing’s “threats” in collaboration with the Central American country.
The US president, Donald Trump, raised the controversy in January by putting on the table the possibility of resorting to the army to control the channel, an important route 82 kilometers long that crosses the Panamanian isthmus-with the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean-and through which it passes around six percent of the world trade.