Defending The Canal And Other Facilities Will See Panama And The United States Conduct Joint Exercises -

(MENAFN- Newsroom Panama) Panamanian security forces and the U.S. Southern Command will conduct joint exercises from July 13 to 18 to strengthen preparedness for“threats to the security of the Panama Canal and other strategic infrastructure” in the country. The National Aeronaval Service (Senan) reported this Saturday that these exercises will be carried out“with full respect for national sovereignty” and include the arrival in Panama of three helicopters from the Joint Task Force Bravo (JTF B) of the Southern Command: two UH 60 Black Hawks and a CH 47 Chinook . The Panamax Alfa 2025 Phase I exercise includes a training session for operations such as boarding and disembarking, fast rope insertion, rescue crane extraction, and maritime platform communication exercises, SENAN stated in a press release.

It will be held at the Teniente Octavio Rodríguez Garrido Air Base in the Panama Pacific region, at the Almirante Cristóbal Colón Naval Base (Caribbean), and at the Salvador Córdoba Air Base in the jungle province of Darién, bordering Colombia. “These activities, carried out by specialized personnel from the National Aeronaval Service, the National Police, and the National Border Service, reinforce preparedness against threats to the security of the Panama Canal and other strategic infrastructure, with full respect for national sovereignty,” the official letter adds. Joint exercises between the United States and Panama, which has not had an army since 1990 and since the 1989 U.S. invasion and which provides security through specialized police forces, are frequent.

This year, there has been considerable controversy over the signing of a memorandum between the U.S. Department of Defense and the Panamanian Ministry of Public Security that provides for an increased temporary and rotating U.S. military presence in the Central American country. Some national sectors have called this a violation of Panama's sovereignty and the Neutrality Treaty that governs the Canal. The controversy arises primarily because the agreements were signed while US President Donald Trump was talking about reclaiming the Canal for the United States due to alleged Chinese influence in his administration, a claim that has been repeatedly and forcefully rejected by the government of President José Raúl Mulino. The United States built and operated the Canal for more than 80 years until its transfer to the Panamanian State on December 31, 1999, pursuant to the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties. The 82-kilometer waterway, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is governed by the Neutrality Treaty, in force since 1979, which establishes complete Panamanian sovereignty over the waterway.

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