Panama Is Facing a “Bully” President, What’s Next
Interview with Lina Vega of International Transparency
Trump’s threats are generating “uncertainty” and “anxiety” in the Panamanian population, says Lina Vega of Transparency International.
HAVANA TIMES – US President Donald Trump’s threats of his country “recovering” control of the Panama Canal due to the supposed influence of China over the waterway, has generated “great uncertainty” and “anxiety” among the Panamanian population, states Lina Vega Abad. Vega is a journalist and human rights advocate who currently serves as president of the Fundacion Libertad Ciudadana, the Panamanian chapter of the Berlin-based organization Transparency International.
“We’re up against a person [Trump] who tries to gain advantage through pressure, blackmail, lies – a classic bully. So all of us are waiting to see what is going to be the next step,” she stated in an interview with the weekly online news program Esta Semana.
A scheduled phone call between Trump and Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino on the afternoon of Friday, February 7, was canceled and postponed at the last minute.
“Right now there’s great uncertainty, a sense of anguish in the country. It’s a David versus Goliath fight. Obviously, there was a lot of tension building, even before the scheduled phone call, given who we’re dealing with: a president, a figure who works from a base of irrationality, constant threats, and lies,” noted Vega.
The activist also spoke about the recent visit of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in Panama on February 2nd and 3rd.
Rubio’s meeting with Mulino and Panama Canal authorities concluded with respective commitments not to renew a major trade agreement with China on the New Silk Road, and to work with the US Navy to “optimize priority transit of its ships” through the interoceanic waterway.
Cancellation of Trump-Mulino phone call
The scheduled phone call between Presidents Molino and Trump was canceled at the last minute. What’s the state of diplomatic tension between both governments over control of the Panama Canal?
Right now there’s great uncertainty, a sense of anxiety in the country. It’s a David versus Goliath fight. So obviously, there was a lot of tension, even before the scheduled time of the call, considering who we’re talking about: a president, a figure who works from a base of irrationality, constant threats, and lies.
Clearly, a small country like Panama is well within its rights to defend its sovereignty and its proprietorship over the Canal, everything we already know. But this is a small country, in the face of a power like the United States.
Let’s say that the situation right now is one of great uncertainty. There’s no information beyond the statement issued by the presidency (on February 6), categorically denying that Panama had agreed to eliminate the tariffs on US warships passing through the canal. It was a strong statement from the President that the country needed.
He also made a somewhat unexpected statement. When asked by a journalist if we are going to try to reach out to international contacts for support, he answered somewhat brusquely that Panama didn’t need anyone’s help with this course of this struggle. However, the [February 6] statement did mention that Panama was going to defend its rights, in the bilateral relationship and in the multilateral sphere. So that’s a change, shall we say, of strategy, or at least of the information we have on Panama’s strategy.
At this point in time, the only thing I can tell you is that there’s great uncertainty. I imagine that the cancellation of the phone call came like a cold bath to Mr. Mulino, because after having been very tense and preparing himself, he’s probably huddling right now with his advisors, thinking: “What’s the next step?” That makes for a very complex situation that Panama is experiencing.
After the US State Department, headed by Marco Rubio, announced an agreement that President Mulino claims never occurred regarding free transit of US warships through the canal, Mulino stated at his February 6 press conference that Panama would not conduct its bilateral relations with the United States on the basis of falsehoods. Was there really some agreement related to the Canal, or was that not the chief topic on the agenda during Rubio’s visit?
The Canal, of course, was the main topic, even though there were other issues of importance regarding the relationship between the United States and Panama. However, the Canal was a priority. In fact, the Executive branch in Panama can’t make a decision outside of the procedures established by the law that governs the Canal. He [Mulino] can’t decide on his own to eliminate tariffs. That’s what he explained to Mr. Rubio, has explained to the media and to the world. The Canal was the focus of the meeting, but there was no agreement on the tariff issue.
Trump’s “real” intentions
What future can we expect for diplomatic relations under the Trump Administration?
We are dealing with a person (Trump) who tries to gain advantage through pressure, blackmail, lies. He’s a bully. So all of us are wondering: What’s going to be the next step?
Panama is a country that has efficiently and responsibly managed the Panama Canal over these 25 years. We have expanded it to completely different channels than the one we received from the United States in 1999. Unfortunately, Mr. Rubio refused to go and see the new canal locks; he wanted to see the old ones.
So we have a letter of introduction to the world that Panama has been very responsible in its management of the Canal. Now, in this situation where the President of the United States has invented that the Chinese are managing the Canal, one has to think: What’s behind this lie? What does he really want that we don’t know? I mean we really don’t know, because of all this enormous amount of untrue assertions. He said that 38,000 Americans had died to build the Canal, which is completely false. The dead of that Canal were mostly people from the Caribbean and Asia, people who gave their lives to build this magnificent work. The United States did not lose a large number of people in the construction. That was the first lie he launched, before he won the presidency. What does Donald Trump want with Panama? It’s a big mystery, really. I myself think he’s not looking for the perfect Canal, there’s something else there. He’s a businessman.
How have Panamanians taken Trump’s threat?
People are worried that we won’t be able to face this challenge from an economic point of view. How can he force us to yield? I mean, the United States tried to impose tariffs on Mexico and Canada, which would have been an economic disaster for both those countries, but also for the United States, and that’s why they backed down. How can they break us? With very strong economic measures, he could wipe out the Panamanian economy. Is he willing to do this with Panama? It’s all a question mark. We don’t really know what he wants. I have the impression, as I said, that he’s looking for something else, some business deal, which isn’t really about the Canal.
Panama’s relationship with China
Mulino assured that the decision to cancel the Silk Road agreement with China was made long before Rubio’s Panama visit. Has China really had influence over the canal, as Trump claims?
[China] has not had any influence over the Canal. The two ports that are at the entrance and exit to the Canal are managed by a Hong Kong company, and during this period Hong Kong became part of China.
The concern of the United States is how China has been filling the vacuum left by the United States in the commercial and maritime area – not only in Panama, but throughout the region, The Chinese have been advancing, as the United States has left us behind. So all of a sudden, they‘ve realized that they have lost control in this region, and there is an evident concern. But there’s a world of difference between reasonable concern and false accusations. In any case, China has no control over the Panama Canal.
President Mulino’s decision not to renew the Silk Road agreement also has to do with the way we established these relations with China. It was a rather obscure process – the country didn’t know what was happening. Our President belongs to a political group that opposed it. The fact that he cancelled an agreement that really doesn’t have the force of law is not so important, but symbolically, he let the United States know that we’re willing to give in on this. We’re not going to continue with this offer that we made to China, or that China made to us.
President Mulino ruled out that his government would break diplomatic relations with China. Is the US government seeking that?
They have relations with China, and they can’t ask us for something they themselves are not willing to do. Panama’s breaking relations with China isn’t in the picture.
First published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.