We republish below an unofficial translation of the following article from the Brazilian New Democratic newspaper A Nova Democracia, originally published on April 11, 2025.
“We’ve moved a lot of troops into Panama and we’ve taken over some areas that we used to have and didn’t have anymore. But now, we have it. And I think it’s under very good control,” Trump said.
by AND Editorial Team
US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday (04/10) that he would send troops to the Panama Canal to challenge China’s growing influence in the region. The announcement came two days after US Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth, during a visit to the country, stated that he “will not allow” China or any other country to disrupt US imperialism’s plans for the canal.
The exact number of invading troops sent to Panama is still unknown, but Trump claimed that there are “a lot of them”. “We have moved a lot of troops into Panama and occupied some areas that we used to have and didn’t have anymore. But now we have them. And I think it’s under very good control,” said the ultra-reactionary president.
The troops were sent after a series of negotiations with the Panamanian government, which is submissive to US interests. The week began with the visit of the Pentagon chief to the Latin American country on 04/07 for a “regional security” conference. The following day, the US representative stated that at that time “US-based military units are engaged in joint exercises, planning and other forms of cooperation with our Panamanian partners on the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the canal”, emphasizing that they “will not allow ‘Communist China’ or any other country to threaten the operation”.
According to the US government, the initial plan was to establish a military base in Panama. However, with the “friendly” progress of the talks involving Hegseth, the commander of the US Southern Command (Southcom), Admiral Alvin Holsey, and subservient Panamanian “authorities”, it was decided to hand over to American imperialism the right to land its warships for free in the vicinity of the canal for training, in addition to granting free and priority use of the waterway.
So as not to appear cowardly and a sellout, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino stated that the US “recognizes the national sovereignty” of the Central American country. Perhaps he misheard Hegseth, who said loudly that the troops in Panama represent the US regaining control of its “backyard.”
Long-standing occupation
The Panama Canal served as a US-controlled military and commercial base until 1999, when, worn out by decades of conflict with the masses of Central America, the Yankees handed over formal control of the canal to the Panamanian government. Panama was also home to the US School of the Americas, a US military center run by the Pentagon to train Latin American military personnel in counterinsurgency strategies and combating the “enemy within.”
The possibility of reoccupying Panama had already been signaled by Donald Trump earlier this year, amid a possible agreement between China and the Panamanian government. The threat sparked a great revolt among the Panamanian people. US flags and Donald Trump effigies were set on fire during the demonstrations. In a daze, the Panamanian government immediately canceled the agreement with China, but the step back was not enough to prevent the Yankee plans from materializing.
Contest with China
The return of the US military presence to Panama 25 years later occurs amid intense conflicts of interest between US imperialism and Chinese social-imperialism. In recent years, China has taken over a large part of the waterway’s operations, installed companies in Latin America and even co-opted some countries into the imperialist megaproject “Belt and Road Initiative”, or “New Silk Road”.
To dissuade Chinese interventionism, the Yankees have deepened the militarization of the subcontinent through military exercises in Latin American countries or on the coast of Central and South America and direct interventions in countries such as Peru, Colombia and, now, Panama.
The US has also concentrated part of its military-industrial complex in parts of Asia to contain China’s advance into territories such as Taiwan, Fiji, the Philippines and the South China Sea. It turns out that the Yankees’ level of “readiness” to act in this part of the world has been compromised by the Arab Anti-Imperialist Resistance in the Middle East, as the Pentagon and government sources revealed to journalists from The New York Times monopoly this week.
Photo: Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon.
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