The Panama Canal celebrated its 25th anniversary since it passed into Panamanian hands, in a solemn ceremony in which the late former US president Jimmy Carter was honored and Donald Trump’s threats to recover the interoceanic waterway were ignored.
The ceremony in the garden of the headquarters of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) was attended by the Panamanian president, José Raúl Mulino, and hundreds of guests, including former president Mireya Moscoso, who symbolically received the canal from Carter. on December 31, 1999.
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“Today we feel the same emotion” as 25 years ago, said Moscoso, who recalled that after signing the canal delivery documents, Carter told her in English “it’s yours” and she started crying.
Mulino noted in a speech that he was happy for the quarter century of Panamanian sovereignty over the highway, but added that “a sadness” invades the country “due to the death of Jimmy Carter,” who died on Sunday at the age of 100.
The tribute to Carter
In memory of the former president and also Nobel Peace Prize winner, a minute of silence was observed at the ceremony.
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Carter and the Panamanian nationalist leader Omar Torrijos signed the canal handover treaties in Washington in 1977.
“We Panamanians committed ourselves as a nation to a safe operation of the canal, open to peaceful transit for ships of all nations, in time of peace or war, and without any discrimination,” said the head of the ACP, Ricaurte Vásquez.
“For 25 years, Panamanians and their channel have fulfilled their promise!” he added in his speech.
The 80-kilometer channel, built by the United States, was inaugurated in 1914.
Washington established an enclave where the American flag flew and had its own military bases, police and justice system.