The Panama Canal Receives A Visit From Republican Ted Cruz -

(MENAFN- Newsroom Panama) Republican Senator Ted Cruz visited the Panama Canal on Thursday, after criticizing“Chinese control over the canal's infrastructure” during a U.S. Senate hearing last January, following President Donald Trump's demand for the return of this strategic waterway for global maritime transport. Cruz, who chairs the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, arrived in Panama from El Salvador as part of a regional tour that also includes Mexico. The U.S. Embassy in Panama announced in a statement that Cruz would meet with Ricaurte Vásquez, the administrator of the Interoceanic Canal; Felipe Chapman, the Minister of Economy and Finance; and Frank Ábrego, the head of Public Security.

He would discuss with them“the joint efforts between the United States and Panama to protect the Canal, attract more U.S. investment to Panama, and promote cybersecurity and critical infrastructure,” he noted. Later, following the senator's visit to the Panama Canal, the canal administration stated in a statement that during the tour,“Cruz showed particular interest in the Canal's security and operational issues and had the opportunity to witness the simultaneous transit of two vessels: a vehicle carrier and a container ship.” The Canal administrator, who accompanied Cruz during the visit,“particularly emphasized the importance of the Canal's relationship with the main ports of the state of Texas-which the senator represents-which annually receive and dispatch goods and merchandise through the interoceanic waterway to various destinations around the world.”

The Alleged Chinese Influence

Without making any statements to the media or on social media regarding the visit, Cruz had lashed out last January against China for its alleged influence over the Panama Canal , during one of the most tense moments between the US and Panamanian administrations, with Trump promising to“recover” the interoceanic waterway, a demand he has downplayed in recent months. The U.S. built and operated the Canal for more than 80 years, until its transfer to Panama 25 years ago, as established by the Torrijos-Carter Treaties of 1977. The waterway is governed by the Neutrality Treaty.

Cruz had then asserted during the Senate hearing that the Panama Canal is vital to U.S. national security and that Trump had rightly re-emphasized the importance of this waterway, asserting that“Chinese control over the canal's infrastructure and exorbitant transit fees are a violation of the treaty's neutrality.” “President Trump is arguing that the (Torrijos-Carter) treaty is currently being violated,” Cruz said at the opening of this hearing, in which he attempted to provide evidence of this failure to comply with the canal management transfer agreements signed in 1977 by Panamanian President Omar Torrijos and American President Jimmy Carter. Panama has denied that China or any other country is interfering in the administration of the Canal, which has the United States as its main user, and has clarified that sovereignty over the waterway is not under discussion, as“it is and will remain Panamanian,” in the words of Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino.

MENAFN29082025000218011062ID1109994293