The President of the Republic of Panama, Jos\u00e9 Ra\u00fal Mulino, stated today that his government will safeguard the country\u2019s interests while emphasizing that its priority is to maintain and strengthen the historical bilateral relations with the United States (U.S.), which \u2014he warned\u2014 cannot be managed \u201con the basis of falsehoods.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his Thursday press conference, held at the Amphitheater of the Palacio de Las Garzas, President Mulino once again rejected the repeated falsehoods spread about the Central American country and the Panama Canal, especially in response to the recent statement from the U.S. Department of State regarding the passage of vessels through the interoceanic route.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am extremely surprised by the State Department\u2019s statement yesterday (Wednesday) because they are issuing important, institutional communications from the entity that<\/em> He added that, as president, he does not have the legal or constitutional authority to intervene in matters related to the setting of tolls for the Panama Canal. Article 76 of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) Law, along with Article 319, Section 2 of the Political Constitution, clearly establishes that neither the government nor the Authority may He also announced that he has instructed the Panamanian Foreign Ministry to disseminate the statement issued on Wednesday by the ACP, which is \u201cclear,\u201d through diplomatic channels to all the country\u2019s ambassadors, \u201cwith special emphasis on the Panamanian Embassy in Washington,\u201d as well as to share the communication lines from today\u2019s press conference.<\/p>\n President Mulino confirmed that this same stance was explained to the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, with whom he had a \u201cvery good, very clear, and very positive\u201d telephone conversation on Wednesday afternoon. As in the recent meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, Panama\u2019s interest in continuing to cooperate in areas under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense, such as migration issues, was part of the discussion.<\/p>\n He also shared with Hegseth the positive results of the National Government\u2019s efforts, through the security agencies, to address the migratory situation in the Dari\u00e9n jungle.<\/p>\n President Mulino detailed that so far in February of this year, 47 migrants have entered the country, which is a \u201crecord\u201d compared to the 2,229 recorded last January.<\/p>\n
\noversees U.S. foreign policy under the President of the United States, based on a falsehood, and that is intolerable. Plain and simple, intolerable. Today, Panama, through you (the media) and the world, expresses my absolute rejection of continuing to explore managing bilateral relations on the basis of lies and falsehoods,<\/em>\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n
\nexempt payment of tolls, fees, or rates for services provided by the Canal, he explained.<\/p>\n