Why the US abandoned control of the Panama Canal 26 years ago: Trump plans to get it back

Why the US abandoned control of the Panama Canal 26 years ago: Trump plans to get it back

Donald Trump will assume the presidency of the United States again sometime this Mondaybeginning his second term as head of state of the North American country after the 2016-2020 period. During the campaign, one of the supposed measures that attracted the most attention is that of recovering control of the Panama Canal.

But what is the story behind this waterway that was also a route for the conflict between the US and Panama? Why did the US government abandon control of it 26 years ago? On this note, I know the story.

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The history of the Panama Canal

At the beginning of the 20th century, The United States, after supporting Panama’s independence from Colombia in 1903, acquired the rights to build the Panama Canal. From this it was that the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treatyduring the administration of Theodore Roosevelt in the United States, in which the independence of the brand new country was guaranteed in exchange for complete control of the North American country over the canal.

Anyway, many Panamanians doubt the validity of the agreementsince Philippe Bunau-Varillarepresentative of the agreement, would not have had the consent of the rest of the government, added to the fact that he had been outside the country for a decade.

The canal was completed in 1914and in the first years of practice The country was already divided in twowith the Panamanians on one side and the Americans – this group is called zoneitesand lived isolated from the Central Americans – on the other.

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From now on, Not only did tension between Panama and the United States grow, but a series of milestones also occurred that changed history forever.. The first of them, the Operation Sovereignty in 1958in which a group of university students carried out a peaceful “planting” of 75 Panamanian flags, as a way of surprising the Canal Zone police.

Along the same lines, a year later came the Patriotic Marchin which Panamanians marched with the flag in hand. From these demonstrations the famous phrase originated: “He who sows flags, reaps sovereignty”. Thanks to this, in 1962 an agreement was reached between the Panamanian president Roberto Chiari and the American John F. Kennedyin which it was established that both flags could be carried in the area.

However, On January 1, 1964, the Zonites ignored the pact and did not raise the Panamanian flag. He January 9a group of students from the National Institute of Panama went to the Canal Zone to complain about the situation, which ended in tragedy; 20 dead and hundreds injured after the repression of the police, an event that today is known as the Martyrs’ Day.

Why the US abandoned the Panama Canal in 1999

This was a turning point for the history of the Panama Canal. The severity of the police forces caused the United States to back away from the negotiations and adopt a more flexible position. In fact, he then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger expressed in a meeting with the president Gerald Ford: “If these negotiations fail, we will be beaten to death in all international forums and there will be riots throughout Latin America.”

After great international pressure, Negotiations continued in April 1964which finally passed into the hands of Jimmy Carter and Omar Torrijos. Finally, in 1977 Two agreements were signed: the Neutrality Treaty and the Panama Canal Treaty. Both established the sovereignty of the area, subject to Panamanian legislation, while setting a date for the transfer of ownership of the interoceanic waterway to the Central American country: on December 31, 1999.

When the long-awaited date arrived, political figures from around the world – including Carter – attended the festive event that would take place. Bill Clinton, sitting president of the United States, was conspicuous by his absence. Therefore, the Panamanian flag was raised and the Central American country obtained the freedom it always wanted in the canal.

Donald Trump’s threats to recover the Panama Canal

Returning to the present, Trump declared regarding this area: “They are scamming us in the Panama Canal”. Likewise, he added that “We will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States in its entirety, quickly and without questions asked.”

This caused rejection in Panama, and he was its leader, José Raúl Mulinowho responded on the social network X (ex Twitter): “Every square meter of the Canal will continue to belong to Panama”.

Source: Ambito

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