PANAMA CITY, Feb 7 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — Tensions between Panama and the United States escalated on Thursday, after the State Department announced that US ships are exempt from paying for transit through the Canal.
In a regular weekly press conference, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino indicated that this report is an absolute falsehood, while in the Dominican Republic, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who just visited Panama, commented that it seemed absurd to him that the United States should pay fees “to transit a zone” that it is obliged “to protect in times of conflict.”
For Mulino, the information about the free tolls is based on “lies” and “an absolute falsehood,” and he said that it is intolerable, while confirming later that tomorrow, Friday, at 3:30 p.m., local time, he would speak with US President Donald Trump, who insists on regaining control of the interoceanic route under China’s alledged influence.
Mulino pointed out that relations between both countries should not continue to be explored “on the basis of lies and falsehoods.”
In that regard, he reaffirmed that he gave instructions to his representative in Washington, José Miguel Alemán, to take action regarding the State Department’s lies, in addition to sharing with all diplomatic offices the report with the denial by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP).
For former Foreign Minister Jorge Ritter, the Government of Panama cannot agree with the United States that it will not charge tolls to its warships.
Ritter told the TVN news channel that US military vessels paid tolls when they were the administrators and during the 25 years of Panamanian management; and to do otherwise would be a flagrant violation of the Neutrality Treaties, signed in 1977.
The 80-kilometer river route, inaugurated in 1914 and through which six percent of the world’s maritime trade goes, was built by the United States and handed over to Panamanians in December 1999 by virtue of the Torrijos-Carter treaties.
The former administrator of the Panama Canal Authority also considered that these agreements, signed in Washington, would be violated if Panama exempts the United States from the toll because it would be discriminatory to other countries. — NNN-PRENSA LATINA
