Protesters in Panama burned an effigy of US President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday after he threatened to return control of the Panama transoceanic canal to Washington.
Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. Embassy, chanting “Trump, bastards, leave the canal alone” and “Get away from the invading gringos,” as about 20 police officers guarded the embassy.
Some in the crowd held banners that read “Donald Trump, Enemy of Panama.”
“The (Panamanian) people have shown that they are capable of taking back territory and we will not give up again,” protester Jorge Guzman told AFP.
The canal was inaugurated in 1914 and was built by the United States but was handed over on December 31, 1999 under a treaty signed almost two decades earlier by then-US President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian nationalist leader Omar Torrijos. To Panama.
“Panama is a sovereign territory and the canal here belongs to Panama,” said Saul Mendez, a construction union leader who co-organized the protest.
“Donald Trump and his imperial delusions cannot seize even a centimeter of Panama,” Mendez added.
Trump on Saturday lashed out at unfair charges for U.S. ships passing through the Panama Canal and alluded to China’s growing influence.
He said that if Panama was unable to ensure the channel’s “safe, efficient and reliable operation,” “then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in its entirety and without question.”
President José Raul Mulino said in a statement signed on Monday with former leaders of the Central American country that the status of the canal was non-negotiable.
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