Leader of powerful Panamanian union scales embassy wall, requests asylum from Bolivia
Hours later, Panamanian prosecutors announced that arrest orders had been issued in relation to a three-year investigation into the national construction workers union that he led. Prosecutors did not name the targets of the investigation.
Panama's Foreign Relations Ministry confirmed that Saúl Méndez, the union's secretary general, had requested asylum.
Bolivia's business attache in Panama, Carlos Javier Suárez Cornejo, said Méndez was given temporary protection while they evaluated his case.
A day earlier, the government of President José Raúl Mulino announced that the union's legal status had been canceled because it did not have necessary internal controls, among them to prevent money laundering.
Another of the union's leaders, Jaime Caballero, was arrested a week earlier for alleged money laundering.
The union has been a central force in a month of street protests that sometimes blocked major highways. The demands have included scrapping reforms to Panama's social security system and opposition to a security agreement giving U.S. soldiers and contractors access to some facilities in Panama.
Marches continued Wednesday, but roadblocks that had snarled traffic were gone.
Mulino has said the reforms were necessary to keep the social security system solvent and denied that the agreement with the United States infringes on Panama's sovereignty.
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Business Standard
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Panama Canal set to enter ports business as Trump-China feud simmers
The Panama Canal is planning to enter the ports business with a tender for two terminals, a move that comes amid a high-profile clash between the US and China over the waterway. The Panama Canal Authority expects to open a tender to operate a port on the Atlantic coast and another on the Pacific, both of which would connect to a liquefied petroleum gas pipeline. They would be owned by the canal and likely operated by a third party, Ricaurte Vasquez, head of the authority, said during an interview Monday in New York. 'We are coming into the game of port terminals,' Vasquez said. Panama's ports have drawn intense scrutiny from Washington in recent months. US President Donald Trump has criticised Chinese influence over the canal, threatening to take back the waterway and falsely alleging that Beijing controls it. Panama President Jose Raul Mulino has repeatedly defended the canal as a Panamanian operation over which the country exercises full sovereignty. Though China has no role in operating the canal, Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd has operated ports on the Atlantic and Pacific sides. The canal authority's plan to own ports is part of $8.5 billion in capital spending it's proposing over the next seven years, including the LPG pipeline, a new water reservoir and roads and highways. Existing ports run by CK Hutchison subsidiary Panama Ports Co., located outside the canal's jurisdiction, were concessioned in 1997 and use old technology. The Panama canal will seek to use newer crane technology that moves cargo more efficiently, and compete with the more modern Port of Cartagena in nearby Colombia, Vasquez said. 'We believe we can leapfrog that situation and we can try to do it differently,' Vasquez said. The decision comes as Mulino said his administration will draft a national maritime logistics strategy to determine a new framework for port operations in Panama. The country's comptroller has filed suit against a contract extension with CK Hutchison's local unit, potentially complicating the conglomerate's plan to sell its global terminals business to a consortium involving BlackRock Inc. The Panama Canal is seeing an unexpected windfall this year due to new US tariffs. Shippers of semi-manufactured goods and automobiles rushed to import products to the US before duties took full effect, helping boost canal revenues. The canal authority expects the front-loading of cargo to dissipate in the next fiscal year beginning in October, and forecasts revenue of around $4.4 billion next year, below roughly $5 billion this year, Vasquez said. More plentiful rainfall this year has allowed the canal authority to maintain a draft of 50 feet (15 meters), which will likely continue through the end of the year, he said. A severe drought in the previous two years forced the canal to limit transits and use new water-saving techniques.
Time of India
03-08-2025
- Time of India
CK Hutchison's Panama Port subsidiary seeks legal protection amid contract dispute
Advt Advt Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals. Subscribe to Newsletter to get latest insights & analysis in your inbox. Get updates on your preferred social platform Follow us for the latest news, insider access to events and more. A subsidiary of a Hong Kong conglomerate entangled in US-China tensions appealed on Friday for legal protection for businesses in Panama after the company's contract over its Panama Canal port assets has been faced with lawsuits in the Central American for the rule of law is essential to assure businesses that Panama is a safe place to invest in, Panama Ports Company , under Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings , said in a Comptroller General filed two lawsuits on Wednesday, seeking to declare unconstitutional a contract that granted the operation of ports at both ends of the canal to the Hong Kong subsidiary, and to nullify its renewal four years ago, saying it was "abusive" of Panama's turn, Panama Ports Company said its operations have had a positive impact, from building world-class ports to creating more than 25,000 direct and indirect jobs and contributing billions of balboas - Panama's currency - to the country's said it wants to work with the government in Panama for a better future."Regarding the ongoing legal actions, we firmly believe that respect for legal protection and the rule of law are essential in order to provide businesses and investors with the certainty that Panama is a safe country to invest in," it company operates the ports of Balboa, in the Pacific, and Cristobal, in the Atlantic, under a concession contract approved in 1997 and renewed in 2021 for 25 more years. CK Hutchison is controlled by the family of Li Ka-shing , the southern Chinese city's richest comptroller authority in April said that an audit of Panama Ports Company found irregularities in the renewal of the concession. But the company denied allegations that it had failed to pay about $1.2 billion to the Central American President Jose Raul Mulino said during his weekly news conference on Thursday that he fully supported the comptroller's case and would await the court's verdict."We have all seen what that contract has costed the Panamanian nation over time," Mulino said without elaborating. He alluded to some sort of public-private partnership for the ports, saying there was a lot of interest from private companies, but that it was in the early stages and provided no Hutchison Holdings' initial plan, announced in March, to sell its port assets in dozens of countries to a group that includes the US investment firm BlackRock Inc., also got caught up in tensions between Beijing and President Donald Trump, who has alleged that China interferes with the canal, initially welcomed that plan. However, it apparently angered Beijing and drew a review by Chinese anti-monopoly months of uncertainty, Hutchison said on Monday that it may seek a Chinese investor to join a consortium of buyers, which also includes BlackRock subsidiary Global Infrastructure Partners and Terminal Investment Limited, a subsidiary of the Mediterranean Shipping initial deal, valued at nearly $23 billion, including $5 billion in debt, would have given the consortium control over 43 ports in 23 countries, including the two at the Panama Ports Company said Friday it would communicate with the Panamanian government "at the appropriate time," affirming that it believes engaging with the government "is vital to discuss the way forward for" the government maintains it has full control over the canal and that the operation of the ports by Hutchison does not mean Chinese control of it.
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First Post
14-07-2025
- First Post
US conducts military drills at Panama Canal amid tensions over China's influence on key trade route
To kick off the drills, three US Army helicopters arrived in Panama on Sunday – two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and a CH-47 Chinook – landing at the Panama-Pacific Airport, formerly the US Howard base read more A cargo ship traverses the Agua Clara Locks of the Panama Canal in Colon, Panama, September 2, 2024. File Image/AP The United States military teamed with Panamanian police to conduct a series of new exercises aimed at protecting the Panama Canal, amid tensions over alleged Chinese influence along the prized trade route. To kick off the drills, three US Army helicopters arrived in Panama on Sunday – two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and a CH-47 Chinook – landing at the Panama-Pacific Airport, formerly the US Howard base. Michael Palacios, subcommissioner of Panama's National Aeronaval Service – known as SENAN – said the exercises would prepare Panama's forces, as well as countries in the region, against any threats to the security and defense of the canal. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD US soldiers conducted similar exercises in Panama a month ago, under a bilateral agreement that allows Washington to use Panamanian air and naval bases for training without establishing its own bases. The agreement sparked protests in the Central American country, and came amid pressure from US President Donald Trump, who threatened to reclaim the canal. He has repeatedly claimed that China has too much influence over the canal, which handles about 40 percent of US container traffic and five percent of world trade. In April, Trump called for the free transit of American commercial and military ships through the inter-oceanic route, claiming the canal would 'not exist' without the US. But Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino said the toll fees are regulated by the Panama Canal Authority, an autonomous governing body overseeing the trade route. US presence in Panama remains a sensitive issue, as it evokes a time when Washington had an enclave of military bases in the country before the canal was handed over to Panamanians on the last day of 1999. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD SENAN officials said the US maneuvers will last until Friday and will respect 'national sovereignty.' Palacios said the exercise has been held for 23 years.
