For Isabel Corro, Donald Trump’s suggestions that the US could use military force to take control of the Panama Canal evokes painful memories.
The 79-year-old vividly recalls rushing her children inside her apartment on 20 December 1989 as US army helicopters and fighter jets screamed over Panama City, turning buildings to piles of rubble with rockets and gunfire.
Corro’s stepfather, a police officer, was killed in the invasion; his body was not found until it was hauled from a mass grave the following year.
“I remember that night. The city was quiet, the houses full of decorations and the entire country was in anticipation of Christmas. Then suddenly, helicopters were whirring around and the sky was lit up with bombs and gunfire,” Corro said. “It was an extremely violent and tragic night. One that unfortunately I will never forget.”
Washington had once backed then president Manuel Noriega – an ally who had spied for the CIA – but George HW Bush sent in 10,000 troops to oust the dictator as his role as an international drug kingpin became apparent.
Hundreds of people were killed – many of them civilians – during Operation Just Cause and the shadow of the invasion still looms large over Panama. Trump’s comments have stoked fears the US could once again set its military sights on the country.
“He is a very arrogant man who thinks he can take whatever he wants,” said Corro, president of the Association of Family Victims of the 1989 US Invasion of Panama. “He cannot just decide: ‘I’m going to buy this country, I’m going to invade this one.’ The world is not some big flea market. It should not happen and we will not let it happen.”
Trump, who will be sworn into office as US president on January 20, has returned to the subject of Panama frequently in recent weeks, complaining that American ships are charged “ridiculous” fees for passing through the canal, which he alleged was controlled by China.
Chinese companies are involved in two major ports in Panama, as part of a Hong Kong consortium, but they have no control of the canal, said Orlando Pérez at the University of North Texas at Dallas. Fees charged for passage are calculated by weight and size, applying equally to each company regardless of nationality.
Nonetheless, in December, Trump said that if Panama could not ensure “the secure, efficient and reliable operation” of the waterway, “we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question”.
This week, when pressed on how he planned to acquire the canal, he refused to rule out taking military or economic action.
Trump’s bellicose rhetoric came during a week in which he also threatened to take Greenland and Canada, prompting warnings from France, Germany and the United Nations.
In Panama, where the scars of conflict with the US are still healing, Trump’s comments have provoked widespread anger.
The incident has strained relations with Panama’s government, which has said sovereignty over the canal is “non-negotiable” and accused Trump of lying about making an offer to buy it.
“The only hands operating the canal are Panamanian and that is how it is going to stay,” said the country’s foreign minister, Javier Martínez-Acha.
About 5% of global maritime traffic passes through the Panama Canal, slashing 6,835 miles (11,000km) off a journey that would otherwise require a long and dangerous trip skirting the southern tip of South America.
The head of the Panama Canal Authority said on Wednesday that Trump’s suggestion that US ships get preferential rates “will lead to chaos” and denied that China had any control over the operation.
“We cannot discriminate for the Chinese, or the Americans, or anyone else. This will violate the neutrality treaty, international law and it will lead to chaos,” Ricaurte Vásquez Morales told the Wall Street Journal.
The waterway was built by the US between 1904 and 1914, and leased to Washington. Following a treaty signed by then president Jimmy Carter in 1977, control of the canal was returned to Panama in 1999 under the condition it would be free for any nation to use.
The canal contributes 7.7% of Panama’s GDP and has become a cause for “pride” and part of “the country’s identity”, said Serena Vamvas, councilor for the San Francisco district in Panama City.
“Panama might be divided politically but we all agree the canal is a national treasure. Everyone here is outraged by Trump’s comments,” Vamvas said.
Any discussion of US intervention prompts painful memories for many in Panama. Officially, 300 soldiers and 214 civilians were killed in the 1989 invasion, but some rights groups say the death toll was closer to 1,000.
Many Panamanians celebrated their country’s liberation from Noriega’s rule, but the US was accused of being heavy-handed, leaving a disproportionate number of civilians among the dead.
“It is not only his ignorance, but the light-hearted way Trump throws these comments around, including that Panama is controlled by China, that is insulting. There are still people [whose bodies] are yet to have been found after the invasion of Panama. It is an open wound and these comments are very hurtful,” said Walkiria Chandler D’Orcy, a deputy in Panama’s National Assembly.
Trump has repeatedly alleged that the canal is no longer under the control of Panama. “It’s being operated by China – China! – and we gave the Panama Canal to Panama, we didn’t give it to China,” Trump said this week. “And they’ve abused it, they’ve abused that gift.”
Trump’s long-term strategy remains unclear, said Pérez, of the University of North Texas at Dallas. “For me and others who know this situation well, it’s baffling. In the 25 years since Panama acquired the control of the canal, they have done an exemplary job in developing an infrastructure of management that is free of corruption, transparent, independent of government interference and that operates on market principles.”
Trump’s comments make less sense given that the president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino – a conservative and fellow entrepreneur – is a logical ally who has pledged to help the US with surging migration through the Darién Gap, a perilous path connecting South and Central America.
“The canal has been the alpha and omega of Panamanian national identity for over a century. It defines what the country is,” said Pérez. “Why would you pick a battle over this and deliberately undermine the relationship with one of the closest allies in the region?”
