Marco Rubio arrived on the Panamanian capital on Saturday on his first trip abroad as head of the diplomacy of USAamid tensions due to the threat of President Donald Trump to resume control of the channel of Panama.
The Secretary of State begins in Panama a six -day tour that will also take it to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic With a focused agenda, in addition to the channel, on migration and the fight against organized crime.
Unlike their predecessors who adopted a conciliatory message with their allies on the first trips, Rubio arrives in Latin America with an aggressive foreign policy. In another sample of this, Trump imposed on Saturday tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.
His trip is preceded by the deportations of handcuffed migrants and Accusations that China intervenes in the Panama Canal through Hutchison HoldingsHong Kong company that operates two ports in the entrances of the interoceanic route.
Trump has not even ruled out the use of military force to “recover” the channel, built by USA and delivered to Panama at the end of 1999, by virtue of bilateral treaties.
Rubio will visit the Panama Canal, according to an American official, and will meet with the president José Raúl Mulino Sunday.
Mulino rules out to open negotiations and already complained to the UN for Trump’s threat. “The channel is from Panama,” he reiterated on Thursday.
The Panamanian president He has denied that China exercise control over the channel. In the middle of the controversy, Panamanian authorities began an audit of Hutchison Holdings.
Maximum pressure
Shortly before the flight of the Secretary of State arrived, groups of protesters burned flags of USA in the center of the capital.
For Sunday, When blonde meets with Mulino, more protests were summoned in the capital, whose streets, buildings and squares were adorned with Panamanian flags for the occasion.
Some experts believe that Trump It only exerts pressure and could declare a victory if it reduces the influence of China and the United States increases investment in the channel, something that most Panamanians would approve.
Rubio has minimized the military option, but without taking the opposite to his boss. “The president has been quite clear in that he wants to administer the channel again,” Siriusxm told the channel in an interview before the trip.
Recognized that the government of Panama “In general, it is pro -American,” but considers that the channel, where 40% of the United States container traffic passes, is a “fundamental national interest” for Washington.
“We cannot allow any foreign power, particularly China, to have that type of potential control over the channel they have. That simply cannot continue like this, ”said Rubio.
The special envoy of the United States for Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Caronesaid Friday that the fault is not from Mulino, but of the former Panamanian president Juan Carlos Varelawho in 2017, during Trump’s first presidential mandate, broke ties with Taiwan in favor of China.
“It was not just a diplomatic recognition. He literally opened the gates and gave him strategic assets throughout the area of the channel to China, ”he said.
He accused Panama of unjustly increasing tolls for American ships, but Panama ensures that the rise was for the ships of all countries to drought, exacerbated by climate change, which affected the functioning of the channel.
Trump Do not hesitate to exert pressure on other countries to bend them, especially to achieve their highest priority: expel migrants in an irregular situation.
A week ago, with the threat of tariffs, he made the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, backing his decision not to accept a military plane with migrants, some with shackles.
