News
Tuesday 4th February 2025.
February 3, 2025
The President of the Republic, José Raúl Mulino , announced on Sunday, February 2, 2025, after meeting with the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio , that Panama will not renew the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
The announcement was diluted among questions regarding the current tense relationship resulting from statements by the President of the United States, Donald Trump , about an alleged influence of the People’s Republic of China in the Panama Canal and how that would violate the Canal Neutrality Treaty . Therefore, there were no further details on the subject other than Mulino’s clarification that this agreement would expire in a couple of years and that his government will not maintain it.
“ A decision that I made and communicated to him. The 2017 Memorandum of Understanding on the Silk Road will not be renewed by my government, that is how it is, we are going to study the possibility of whether it can be finished earlier or not, but I think that it is due for renewal in one or two years […],” said the Panamanian president during his statement to the media .
Was there pressure on the part of the Secretary of State towards Panama? Was this an action to reduce tension with the United States and calm its President? One can speculate, but it will not be known, however, the only concrete announcement by President Mulino after their meeting was that the Memorandum of Understanding would not be renewed.
Panama’s decision was applauded by Rubio today, Monday, February 3, from his X account, and was attributed to the leadership of US President Donald Trump.
The US Secretary of State called it “ a major step forward for US-Panama relations, a free Panama Canal, and another example of leadership from @POTUS […].”
In a conversation with La Prensa on Monday , lawyer and former foreign minister Erika Mouynes said that dialogue is good, but that she “would not see any space or margin to agree on anything in a first meeting . ”
He went even further. “If it is a power relationship where there is an imposition, certain considerations end up being taken into account; what guarantees Panamanians that in two weeks there will not be a new list of suggestions or impositions ? ”
As a strategy, the former foreign minister said that she would start by calling for a little calm, for everyone, including those of us who are spectators, because it is not in Panama’s interest for us to rush, or to want conclusions or results at this time. She stressed that Donald Trump’s government has been in place for days and Panama’s has been in place for months, therefore, there is still a long way to go.
On the other hand, he indicated that it is necessary to separate the facts from the strategy. One cannot be negotiating if the facts have not been more or less equalized —said Mouynes— and here there is an important exercise that Panama has to do to make the facts known, to make known how the Canal works. “If not, we start off in a negotiation on a plane of inequality and weakness,” he assured.
According to Bloomberg , US officials said that Panama guaranteed free transit of US warships through the Canal.
According to the media, President José Raúl Mulino assured the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, of this measure during their meeting on Sunday, February 2.
However, this contrasts with President Mulino’s statements where he said that he “could not speak for the Panama Canal Authority (ACP).”
On the contrary, the ACP did report that it would work with the navy of that country to “optimize the priority” in the transit of its ships through the waterway. However, they have not communicated an official statement on this measure.
During his visit on Sunday, Rubio warned that his country would take “the necessary measures to protect its rights” if Panama did not make changes regarding alleged Chinese influence on the Canal.
Mulino, for his part, downplayed the tensions and said that he “does not perceive a real threat against the treaty or the use of military force.”
Hours later, US President Donald Trump reiterated his threats to “take back the Panama Canal” for national security reasons and reiterated that China would be controlling the waterway.
According to Trump, who spoke to American media in Washington, the United States will either take back the canal or “something very powerful will happen.”
“It was handed over to Panama, but they violated the agreement… I don’t think the troops are needed in Panama. What Panama has done is terrible for the financial security of this part of the world,” he said.
The rector of the University of Panama, Eduardo Flores Castro , warned about the raids in the residences of at least four university students, some of them leaders. In addition, the arrest of two young people after a demonstration last Friday, January 31, in rejection of the arrival of the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio .
Flores regretted that the demonstration ended in acts of violence, and indicated that he is considering filing complaints against the National Police with the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the rector, a police officer had an exchange of words with students that escalated to pushing and hitting. “The police chief informed me that his officer was hospitalized after being hit, but when reviewing the videos it is observed that the person involved is a student,” he explained.
According to Flores Castro, the young woman responded to the officer’s aggression, which led to the intervention of her classmates. “The other students defended her because the officer was hitting her while she was peacefully protesting the arrival of the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio,” she explained.
The rector also denounced that the police authorities blocked the exits of the university on the same day of the incident. “We tried to mediate with the police director, but he turned his back on us and told us that he had nothing more to discuss with us,” he said.
In response to these events, the defender of university students’ rights, Gilberto Marulanda, rejected the police repression. “The attack on a student and the police siege over the weekend constitute a chain of events that deserve the rejection of the academic community and Panamanian society.”
For his part, the president of the Association of Professors of the University of Panama (Apudep), José Álvaro, also condemned the events and rejected the position of the National Police. “We regret the words of the police director when he pointed out that the university is a center for criminals. The university has never been a place of crime.”
Under a strong security device made up of members of the National Police, the National Migration Service and the Institutional Protection Service (SPI), a total of 43 Colombian citizens were returned to their country this Monday, February 3, 2025, as part of the memorandum of understanding between Panama and the United States.
Present at the event were the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio ; the Minister of Security, Frank Ábrego ; the Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha; the Director of Migration, Roger Mojica ; the Director of Civil Aeronautics, Rafael Bárcenas and staff from the Embassy of the United States in Panama.
According to official data, 36 of the returnees were deported, of which 26 are men and 10 are women. Seven other individuals were expelled, of which six are men and one is a woman.
The reasons for these measures include crimes such as human trafficking, sexual assault, drug-related crimes and evading checkpoints.
Rubio, for his part, referred to the migration situation in the hemisphere as a “tragedy” and pointed out that many of the people who transit through Panama on their way north are victims of the irregular conditions in which they travel.
He also noted that, from the U.S. perspective, most migrants passing through the region have the United States as their final destination. “To a certain extent, our border does not begin with Texas and Mexico, it begins much earlier,” the Secretary of State said.
Rubio emphasized the close relationship between the two countries, calling Panama a “friendly and brotherly country.”
A total of 1,881 migrants have been returned to their countries of origin in recent months on 47 deportation flights, according to the latest report from the National Migration Service.
Migration reported that, to date, 47 deportation flights have been carried out: 29 to Colombia, where 1,065 migrants were repatriated; 12 to Ecuador, with a total of 397 people; and two combined flights that allowed the repatriation of 48 citizens to Vietnam and 215 to India.
In addition, according to the agency, six migrants have been deported from Iran, four from Peru, three from Afghanistan, three from Lebanon, two from China and one each from Armenia, Yemen, Pakistan, Ghana and Turkey.
The National Border Service (Senafront) seized a total of 354 kilos of cocaine in two operations carried out in the Chepo area.
In one case, the drugs were transported in a shipment of bananas and in the other they were found on the walls of public transport.
According to investigations, this is part of a drug trafficking network that receives drugs from Colombia through the Darien trails and takes them with backpackers to the vicinity of Chepo.
The first seizure was made on Saturday at a Senafront checkpoint, when a total of 250 kilos of cocaine were found in a pick-up truck carrying a load of bananas.
During the inspection, the authorities noticed that there were several packages under the bananas that tested positive for cocaine.
In this case, two people were arrested who were in charge of transporting the narcotics.
The second drug seizure also occurred on the road to Chepo, during the inspection of public transport in which a total of 104 kilos of cocaine were located.
The drugs had been placed on the seats and walls of public transport on the Chepo-Panama route. According to authorities, the drugs would be handed over to another group to take them to the border with Costa Rica.
So far this year, authorities have seized three tons of drugs in operations carried out throughout the country.
In 2024, authorities seized some 117 tons of drugs, most of which were found on speedboats arriving from Colombia and in shipments hidden in containers arriving at the country’s ports.
Security forces have stepped up surveillance in the coastal areas of Chepo and Chimán, where boats carrying drugs arrive.