PANAMA CITY: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met on Sunday with Panama’s leader to press President Donald Trump’s demand that the United States take back the Panama Canal, as protesters vented anger on the streets.

Rubio, in his first meeting abroad as the top US diplomat, walked past an honour guard outside the whitewashed walls of President Jose Raul Mulino’s official residence in the tropical capital’s old quarter.

Rubio shook hands with Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha and flashed a thumbs-up sign before heading into talks with Mulino.

Rubio later in the day will tour the Panama Canal, the crucial link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through which some 40 per cent of US container traffic passes.

Trump and Rubio say that US competitor China has gained too much power around the canal and could shut it down in a potential conflict, with catastrophic consequences for the United States.

Small but intense protests broke out in Panama ahead of Rubio’s visit, with police firing tear gas. Protesters burned an effigy of Rubio wearing a red, white and blue suit and held up pictures of him and Trump before a Nazi flag.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2025