Editor-DN
Panama City:
Hundreds of Panamanians marched on Thursday to mark the anniversary of a deadly 1964 uprising against U.S. control of the Panama Canal, with some burning an effigy of President-elect Donald Trump, who has threatened to retake the key global waterway. is
In January 1964, more than 20 Panamanians, many of them students, were killed in violent clashes across the country in response to mass protests against the US presence in the country and control of the canal by US security forces. increased after the firing. At least three American soldiers were also killed.
The event, commemorated every January 9 as “Martyrs’ Day”, is considered to have paved the way for the canal’s transfer to Panama in 1999. in Panama, amid rising tensions with Trump.
“Today is a day to remember the sacrifices of our martyrs, but also to tell the world that Panama is sovereign and the canal is ours,” said Sebastian Queiroz, 84, a retired unionist who was a student during the uprising. . .
The marching crowd chanted “Blood shed will never be forgotten” and “Hands off Panama” as they remembered those who died in 1964. Approached the eternal flame monument built for Site in a formal ceremony.
Trump on Tuesday refused to rule out using military or economic pressure to seize control of the canal, an 82-kilometer (51-mile) man-made waterway linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans that is a key There is an international shipping route.
The president-elect has criticized the cost of moving goods through the canal and mocked Chinese influence in the region. China does not control or manage the canal, but a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings has long managed two ports on the canal’s Caribbean and Pacific entrances.
Panama strongly condemned Trump’s threats.
“The only hands that control the canal are Panama and it will continue that way,” Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha told reporters on Tuesday.
Ivan Quintero, a 59-year-old university activist who attended the march, said no government can take away what Panamanians have fought for for so long.
He said that Mr. Trump has done a lot of disrespect by threatening to take away the canal from us. “He has to learn to respect it.”
(Other than the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
