Panamanians protest 'public enemy' Trump's canal threat

PANAMA CITY

Protesters in Panama burn an image of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump following his threat to demand control of the country's interoceanic canal be returned to Washington.

Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. embassy chanting "Trump, animal, leave the canal alone" and "Get out invading gringo," as about 20 police officers guarded the compound.

Some in the crowd carried banners reading "Donald Trump, public enemy of Panama."

"The [Panamanian] people have shown that they are capable of recovering their territory and we are not going to give it up again," protester Jorge Guzman told AFP.

The canal, inaugurated in 1914, was built by the United States but handed to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under treaties signed some two decades earlier by then-U.S. president Jimmy Carter and Panamanian nationalist leader Omar Torrijos.

"Panama is a sovereign territory and the canal here is Panamanian," said Saul Mendez, the leader of a construction union that jointly organized the protest.

"Donald Trump and his imperial delusion cannot claim even a single centimeter of land in Panama," Mendez added.

Trump on Saturday slammed what he called unfair fees for U.S. ships passing through the Panama Canal and hinted at China's growing influence.

If Panama could not ensure "the secure, efficient and reliable operation" of the channel, "then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question," he said.

The status of the canal is non-negotiable, President Jose Raul Mulino said in a statement on Dec. 23, signed alongside former leaders of the Central American country.

The 80-kilometer (50-mile) Panama Canal carries five percent of the world's maritime trade. Its main users are the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Chile.