On Wednesday, Panama President Josรฉ Raรบl Mulino accused President Donald Trump of lying when he said in his Tuesday address to a joint session of Congressย that his administration was “reclaiming” the Panama Canal.
He was referencing a deal by BlackRock to buy control of both ends of the Panama Canal from the Hong Kong-based group that operates ports near both ends of the Canal.
Instead of saying โreclaiming,โ he could have said the US company will have control over both ends of the Canal. Mulino is quibbling over words, possibly concerned about how he looks to his people.
Either way itโs a win.
No one thought he took over the Canal. Everyone knew it was a lease.
Panama maintains that it has full control over the canal and that the Hong Kong-based group’s operation of the ports did not amount to Chinese control over the waterway, and that therefore the sale to a U.S.-based company would not represent any U.S. “reclaiming” of the canal. Panama’s government called the sale a private transaction on Tuesday.
Mulino is disingenuous here. Hong Kong is now Chinese communist as are their companies.
The Panama President also said the deal did not come about because of US pressure.
“I reject in the name of Panama and all Panamanians this new affront to the truth and our dignity as a nation,” he wrote in the post translated from Spanish. He accused Mr. Trump of “lying again.”
“The Panama Canal is not in the process of being restored, and this is certainly not the task that was even discussed in our conversations with Secretary Rubio or anyone else,” Mulino continued.
Either way, the Chinese are out and the Americans are in.
President Mulino will be a good ally. He hopes to stop the illegal immigration through Panama.
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