(Adnkronos) – “The sovereignty of our Channel is not negotiable”. So said the Panamanian Foreign Minister, Javier Martinez-Acha, in reply to the words spoken yesterday by the US President elect, Donald Trump, who did not rule out using military or economic force to take control of the Panama Canal, claiming that “it’s now managed by China”.
“The only hands controlling the Channel are Panamanian and will continue to be so”, stated Martinez-Acha in a press conference, stressing that the Channel is at the service of humanity and global trade.
Already in December, Trump had defined the Channel’s transit fees as “exorbitant”, hoping that control would be returned to the United States. Yesterday, during a press conference held at his Mar-a-Lago estate, he upped the ante, responding “I will not commit to this now” to a journalist who had asked him if he could assure the world that he would not use military or economic force. The Channel, one of the most important trade routes in the world, was built by the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. Afterwards, the administration was gradually transferred to Panama.
