Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino has categorically ruled out any negotiations with the United States on the Panama Canal after US President Donald Trump expressed his intention to restore US control over the strategic waterway. This was reported by DPA, citing Mulino's statement, quoted by BTA.
Trump stated his position during his inauguration on January 20, the agency recalls.
“I cannot negotiate, much less start negotiations on the canal“, Mulino said at his regular weekly press conference. “This issue is closed. "The Canal belongs to Panama," he stressed.
The president made the statement in connection with the upcoming tour of Central America by the new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The former Florida senator will visit Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce announced last week.
Since Trump expressed his claims to the Panama Canal upon his inauguration, he has repeatedly confirmed his intention, which Mulino categorically rejects.
The Panama Canal, 82 kilometers long, was built at the beginning of the last century by US Army Corps of Engineers. The US handed over its administration to Panama on December 31, 1999, as a result of an agreement brokered by the recently deceased Jimmy Carter, the 39th US president.