The Canal Belongs To Panama Editorial From The Costa Rican Newspaper La Nación

(MENAFN- Newsroom Panama) The Costa Rican newspaper
La Nación
, in its editorial of January 4, reaffirmed its support for Panama and the Sovereignty of the management of the Canal, following threats made by the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, of wanting to reverse the administration of the interoceanic route to that country.
The Editorial Board of La Nación titles its editorial: The canal belongs to Panama:

Below is the full text of the editorial from
La Nación of Costa Rica:

In June 2017, during his first presidency, Donald Trump surprised his Panamanian counterpart, Juan Carlos Varela, during a visit to the White House, by telling him that the“handover” of the canal to his country had been a“terrible deal” for the United States, and added:“We should take that thing back.” Varela had the tact to divert the conversation to another topic and managed to overcome the bad moment. The anecdote was later revealed by John Feeley, who in January 2018 resigned from his position as US ambassador to Panama due to“irreconcilable differences” with his boss.

A few weeks into his second presidential term, Trump has reiterated this dangerous obsession publicly and explicitly, with clear ignorance, unacceptable historical disdain, enormous crudeness, crude threats, unnecessary imprudence and intolerable disrespect for Panama's sovereignty. The firm and calm rejection of his president,
Raúl Mulino,
by broad national sectors and several Latin American foreign ministries was not long in coming, as is appropriate in these cases. He deserves the support of every person and government that respects international law.

The
new attack
began the weekend before Christmas. Both on his Truth Social network and before thousands of supporters gathered in Phoenix, Arizona, at the conservative Turning Point conference,
the president-elect called the fees established
for transiting the canal“ridiculous” and“highly unfair.” He defined them as a“complete scam” against his country that“will cease immediately.”

Otherwise, he added:“We will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States.” In addition, he questioned Panama's ability to operate the waterway in a“safe, efficient and reliable” manner, and denounced the nonexistent danger that China would come to control it. From obsession to delirium, on December 25, he again used his social network to wish a Merry Christmas“to everyone, including the wonderful soldiers of China, who lovingly but illegally operate the Panama Canal,” where they lost“38,000 people in its construction 110 years ago” and made sure that the United States always put up“billions of dollars in money for 'reparations.'”

The reality is very different from the affronts.
The construction of the canal, unsuccessfully initiated by France and successfully conducted by the United States between 1904 and 1914, is estimated to have claimed the lives of at least 30,000 people, mainly due to the ravages of malaria. However, the vast majority were workers from the Antilles. The number of American deaths did not reach 400.

In 1977, after intense negotiations, Presidents Jimmy Carter and Omar Torrijos signed the treaties that, first, returned sovereignty of the Canal Zone to Panama and, on December 31, 1999, its management to a competent and independent Panamanian authority, free from political or financial manipulation, which has managed it effectively, transparently and neutrally, as established in those agreements.

The tariffs are set by a system that is objective in its parameters and clear in its application. And China, its second most important user after the United States, has no intervention in any of the above, because one thing is the route and another, two ports that, after a competitive process, are operated by two Hong Kong companies.

Ignoring or lying about facts and history, setting aside commitments made through
legally binding treaties
and ignoring the sovereignty of a State over its national territory are unacceptable starting points. Something similar occurs with Trump's threats to“buy” Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, or to make Canada the 51st state of the Union. Even worse is using these distortions to raise threats against the integrity of a country that, like Panama, is among the most reliable allies of the United States.

All this should not be seen as a mere passing bravado. Unfortunately, it is a way of approaching international relations with arbitrariness, snubs and the use of pressures – which in this case can be diplomatic, commercial or financial – to impose inappropriate wills. Hence the justified alarm and the warning about what this could imply for both Panama and other allies.

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