Thousands demonstrate in Panama over deal with US military

PANAMA CITY: Thousands of students and workers demonstrated in Panama on Tuesday over a planned increase in the US military presence around the country’s vital interoceanic shipping canal and other government policies.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to “take back” control of the Panama Canal that the United States built and controlled until 1999.

To deflect the pressure, Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino agreed last month to allow US military personnel to deploy to Panamanian-controlled bases along the canal for training, exercises and “other activities.”

The deal, which was seen as a major concession to Trump, has met with pushback from Panamanians, who oppose any perceived infringement of their country’s sovereignty after a 1989 US invasion to depose then-leader General Manuel Noriega.

Tuesday’s demonstration in Panama City, the biggest in three weeks of strikes and protests, was also called to protest Mulino’s bid to reopen a huge open-pit copper mine as well as social security reforms.

“Since Mulino took office (in July 2024), everything has gone to hell,” 27-year-old student Isaac Alba, who took part in the demonstration, told AFP.

Separately, US President Trump on Tuesday teased that he will make a major announcement ahead of his trip next week to the Middle East, without revealing what it would be.

“We’re going to have a very, very big announcement to make. Like, as big as it gets, and I won’t tell you on what. And it’s very positive,” Trump said in the Oval Office.

“It’ll be one of the most important announcements that have been made in years about a certain subject,” Trump said.

Trump says will make ‘very, very big announcement’ before Mideast trip