On the Atlantic Side, in Colon province, there are several foreign-port concessions. The one that Republicans scream the most about is the Port of Cristobal, once part of the Canal Zone but in the 1990s granted as a concession to a Hong Kong based company that upgraded it to be a modern container port. THIS port a few miles away encompasses part of the old Canal Zone townsite of Coco Solo and part of the old US military base of Fort Randolph. The locals referred to it as Coco Solo Norte, but an American manager of this place, a concession granted to the Taiwanese Evergreen shipping company, once got really indignant about the editor using the local place name and insisted that it’s “CCT,” for Colon Container Terminal. Encompassed within this development is the site of where the editor once went to elementary school. Not far away, a bit to the south but also in the old Coco Solo, there is another, larger, private concession container port, Manzanillo International Terminal, the concessionaire there being US-based Stevedoring Services of America. The SSA port concession encompasses the old Cristobal Junior-Senior High School, where the editor went for seventh and eighth grade. At the far western edge of Colon province, well away from the canal, there is a seaport that’s part of the closed and legally questionable copper mine for which Canada-based First Quantum had the concession and still more or less retai9ns control. Is the gossip right? Does some US company get a concession for a new port in Colon province, so that the Americans get two ports, the Chinese one, the Taiwanese one, and the Canadians one? Or do we analyze who owns how many shares of each of the companies involved? Thing is, the editor is this weird old urban policy guy, and he wonders about the economic utility of yet another seaport near the north end of the Panama Canal. Especially so, as so many of the executive orders emanating from the several-times-bankrupt Donald Trump make no apparent economic sense. Photo by one of Evergreen’s building subcontractors.
(sic)
Secretary Rubio’s Meeting with Panamanian President Mulino
by the Office of the Spokesperson, US Department of State
February 2, 2025
The below is attributable to Spokesperson Tammy Bruce:
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino and Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha today in Panama City to address critical regional and global challenges. Secretary Rubio informed President Mulino and Minister Martínez-Acha that President Trump has made a preliminary determination that the current position of influence and control of the Chinese Communist Party over the Panama Canal area is a threat to the canal and represents a violation of the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal. Secretary Rubio made clear that this status quo is unacceptable and that absent immediate changes, it would require the United States to take measures necessary to protect its rights under the Treaty.
Secretary Rubio also emphasized the importance of collaborative efforts to end the hemisphere’s illegal migration crisis and thanked President Mulino for his support of a joint repatriation program, which has reduced illegal migration through the Darien Gap. The Secretary underscored the desire for an improved investment climate and ensuring a level playing field for fair competition by U.S. firms. The Secretary also praised President Mulino’s regional leadership in support of a democratic, free Venezuela.
Secretary Rubio expressed his gratitude for the productive discussion and underscored the United States’ dedication to making both nations safer, stronger, and more prosperous. He noted this meeting marks an important step in reinvigorating the strategic relationship between the United States and Panama, in line with President Trump’s vision.
In the middle of this US company’s port concession near the Panama Canal’s Caribbean entrance, the mighty Cristobal High School Tigers once marched to gridiron glory. Photo by Stevedoring Services of America.
Contact us by email at thepanamanews@gmail.com
To fend off hackers, organized trolls and other online vandalism, our website comments feature is switched off. Instead, come to our Facebook page to join in the discussion.
These links are interactive — click on the boxes
>
