As he prepares to take over the presidency of the United States this month, Donald Trump has made a sudden start. to threaten to retake the Panama Canal, as well.
According to the President coming soon to be angry on social media, Panama is “repeating” the US with “ridiculous” fines for using the waterway to connect the sea and the world's largest canal for trade. As Mr. Trump sees, the behavior of the Central American country is critical especially “knowing the special generosity that has been given to Panama by the US”.
Mr. Trump has also made baseless claims that the Chinese military is running the tunnel. Indeed, the Panama Canal was previously used by the United States, which built the canal at the beginning of the 20th century and only handed over sovereignty to Panama in 1999.
As for the “extraordinary generosity” allegedly given to the country by local powers, just remember what the US military is known for “Operation Just Cause“, established in December 1989, for which the poor neighborhood of El Chorrillo in the Panamanian capital of Panama City received the honor “Little Hiroshima“.
At least several thousand civilians have been killed in a display of incendiary weapons, which occurred during the upcoming US war in Iraq. For his part, Panamanian leader and former US ally Manuel Noriega surrendered to the US military on January 3, 1990, while sitting in the Vatican's embassy in Panama City was interrupted by a series of mournful songs blasting from parked US tanks. outside. The songs chosen were Lee Greenwood's “God Bless the USA” and Bon Jovi's “Wanted Dead or Alive”.
Noriega was taken to Miami to face drug-trafficking and other charges – not to mention his long history on the payroll of the CIA despite his familiarity with US narcotics. His removal at this time opened the way for a greater increase in the drug trade by the ruling class of Panama.
Just call it “amazing generosity”.
As for the original generosity, the US from 1903 to 1979 managed the famous Panama Canal Zone, which included a large part of the Panamanian territory and was followed by racial discrimination that continued even after this. it was legally abolished in the US proper. The Canal Zone has also played host to all US military units and other installations such as the infamous US Army School of the Americas, which was attended by a Latin American dictator and death squad leader as well as Noriega himself.
The United States completed the construction of the Panama Canal in 1914 – a project that cost thousands of lives and relied heavily on black-skinned and criminal slavery. The task of governing the world and not “generosity”, the construction of this canal began during the administration of US President Theodore Roosevelt, who was concerned with the idea that the waterway is “a necessary – necessary – path to the future of the whole world. United States of America” , as historian David McCullough notes in his chapter The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914.
When Roosevelt took the presidency in 1901, Panama was still owned by Colombia, but negotiations between the Colombian government and the US on the proposed canal did not go well. And voila: the new country of Panama was born in 1903, Roosevelt's midwife was happy to give up its territory and national sovereignty to the US.
As John Weeks and Phil Gunson put it in their book Panama: Made in the USA, the country was “made out of Latin America to serve foreign interests”. And to this day, Panama bears the scars of carving. A famous street in Panama City is still named Roosevelt, although Fourth of July Avenue has been renamed Martyrs' Avenue in honor of the victims of the flag violence of January 1964. During this time, the US military killed at least 21 Panamanian students when they tried to raise their flag. near US at Canal Zone High School.
As it turns out, Mr. Trump has his connection to the Panama City area as a small hotel called the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower and is still referred to as “Trump” regardless of the removal of his name from the mark. In 2017, NBC reported that the Trump Organization gave permission to a 70-storey building, which was “full of drug money and international violence”.
That said, it's not like Panama is the problem that's been keeping Trump up at night. In fact, the emergency threats to restore the Panama Canal are part of the way of the president-elect “America First” to persuade his followers to have the right to pride themselves – all this with the help of “generous” insults of the US.
As if America wasn't already “first” when it comes to destroying the world. But, hey, when you're the most powerful person in the world, you have your cake and you're a victim, too.
McCullough records how, during a failed negotiation in Washington in 1902, Colombian ambassador Dr José Vicente Concha said the following about his fellow gringos: they force these gentlemen to play a little with their meat before eating it, although when all is said and done, they in other words.”
And while Mr. Trump may not be bothered by cheating, the US has not lost interest in playing with its prey.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect Al Jazeera's influence.