"Every Panamanian, here or anywhere in the world, carries it in their heart, and it is part of our history of struggle and irreversible conquest," said Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino in response to the recent threats made by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to retake control of the Panama Canal.
PANAMA CITY, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino on Sunday dismissed recent threats made by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to retake control of the Panama Canal, reaffirming that "the sovereignty and independence" of Panama are not "negotiable."
"I want to express precisely that every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent area belong to Panama, and will continue belonging to Panama," Mulino posted on social X.
"Every Panamanian, here or anywhere in the world, carries it in their heart, and it is part of our history of struggle and irreversible conquest," he added.
In 2019, the U.S. documentary "Panama Canal" premiered. While the film showcases the canal's global significance, it skips a key chapter: U.S. intervention in Panama's secession from Colombia, which secured American control of the canal for nearly a century.
"To build the canal, the United States had helped Panama gain independence from Colombia, thereby dismembering a sister republic to secure a canal treaty that secured U.S. interests," Panamanian historian Marixa Lasso, wrote in her book "Erased: The Untold Story of the Panama Canal."
In 1821, Panama declared independence from Spain and became part of the Republic of Gran Colombia. By the mid-19th century, its strategic location attracted U.S. interest, particularly as the country sought a transoceanic canal. In 1903, the Herran-Hay Treaty was signed, granting the U.S. rights to construct a canal. However, it was rejected by Colombia's legislature over sovereignty concerns.
Then U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt hinted backing Panama's independence in a letter to his friend Alber Shaw, "Privately, I freely say to you that I should be delighted if Panama were an independent state, or if it made itself so at this moment."
On Nov. 3, 1903, U.S. warships supported a revolt that led to Panama's secession. Within days, the U.S. recognized the new nation and quickly secured the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, granting it "the use, occupation and control" of the canal zone in perpetuity for a modest payment.
"I made Panama," Roosevelt said.
Construction of the Panama Canal began under U.S. control in 1904 and was completed in 1914.
The surrounding Panama Canal Zone, a 16.09-kilometer-wide strip covering 1,432 square kilometers, operated as a "state within a state" under U.S. jurisdiction. It had its own governor, administration, and military command, with the American flag flying over the zone.
Between 1913 and 1916, the U.S. forcibly relocated indigenous residents, dismantling Panamanian towns and displacing about 40 thousand people without adequate compensation.
A letter preserved in U.S. National Archives, signed by various victims and sent on Sept. 30, 1914, stated the inhabitants of the zone were treated even worse than "ferocious criminals." They had been denied "a place to live and eat, our lands and houses being taken from us without paying us justly what they are worth."
In the 1920s, the United States tried to establish the failed Kellogg-Alfaro treaty, which was rejected because it aimed to legalize the presence of U.S. troops on Panamanian soil.
"That treaty completely turned Panama into a U.S. military base, that is, a military springboard for the rest of Latin America," said Julio Yao, former foreign policy advisor and honorary president of the Center for Asian Strategic Studies of Panama.■
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