Irregularities in Panama Canal Port Concession
April 8, 2025
Panama’s Comptroler General office said an audit has found irregularities in the renewal of a 25-year port concession in the interoceanic canal and it would request an investigation into the authorization of the contract to CK Hutchinson, a Hong Kong-based company. Authorities said they will file a lawsuit against the officials who authorized the renewal. (Associated Press and Reuters)
The findings could complicate a purchase of CK Hutchinson’s port concession by BlackRock, a move celebrated by Trump and criticized by China. If Panama's Comptroller General confirms irregularities in the concession renewal or the Supreme Court declares the contract to be unconstitutional, the concession could be revoked, lawyers and experts have said, reports Reuters.
In February, Panama's Attorney General released a binding opinion finding that the port contract was unconstitutional, the case will now be addressed by the country’s Supreme Court.
The Comptroller-General’s announcement came the same day the U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrived in Panama to participate in a subregional security conference.
Hegseth, the first U.S. defense secretary to visit in decades, comes as Trump has frequently reiterated the intent to “take back” the Panama Canal, and amid reports that the U.S. government asked the military for options to ensure access to the canal.
Panama will be watching for signs of the direction he wants to take the U.S.-Panama security relationship, and for the canal itself, reports Reuters.
More Panama Canal
Trump’s aggressive approach to the Panama Canal is undermining his objectives: Panamanian President Raúl “Mulino needs political capital to deliver on U.S. priorities—whether that’s reducing Chinese control over strategic infrastructure, closer partnership on canal security, or quick progress on a new reservoir,” writes Will Freeman in Americas Quarterly.
Supreme Court Permits Enemy Act Deportations
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can continue to deport people under the Alien Enemy Act of 1798, but that authorities must give Venezuelans who it claims are gang members “reasonable time” to go to court.
The ruling did not address the constitutionality of using the Alien Enemies Act to send the migrants to a prison in El Salvador. The justices instead issued a narrow procedural ruling, saying that the migrants’ lawyers had filed their lawsuit in the wrong court.
The conservative majority said the legal challenges must take place in Texas, and said nothing about the deportation flights that in March deported nearly 300 people to El Salvador without a chance to address allegations that they are gang members.
In dissent, the three liberal justices said the administration has sought to avoid judicial review in this case and the court “now rewards the government for its behavior.” Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined portions of the dissent.
(Associated Press, New York Times)
Deportations
The U.S. and Salvadoran governments initially claimed that every single one of the 261 men sent to CECOT on three flights on March 16 are gang members. That narrative soon unraveled, reports El Faro.
“CECOT is merely the shiny jewel of an archipelago of prisons,” according to El Faro. “But the key to understanding El Salvador’s prisons, and the Bukele administration, are facilities most observers abroad have never heard of: black boxes where reports of systematic torture have emerged in survivor testimony, disease proliferates and medical care is denied, and at least 375 people have died in state custody.”
U.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. temporarily blocked a trial judge’s order directing the United States to return Kilmar Abrego García, a Salvadoran migrant deported by “administrative error,” reports the New York Times.
Ecuador
President Daniel Noboa’s “faltering efforts to tackle the security crisis have become the central issue ahead of a razor-edge election run-off” Sunday, amid surging violence and a sputtering economy, according to the Financial Times.
Haiti
More than 260 people were killed during recent gang attacks on two Port-au-Prince communities, according to a new report by the U.N. political mission in Haiti. The report notes authorities’ delayed response to the attacks, which analysts say reflects fractures in the transitional government and lack of coordination in response to gang threats. (Associated Press)
Mexico
Teresa González Murillo, a volunteer searcher for the Luz de Esperanza Desaparecidos Jalisco collective, was confirmed dead last week, after an attack at her home. Members of the collective reported that Teresa had received threats from criminal organizations: At least 21 volunteer searchers were killed or disappeared in Mexico between 2010 and 2024, reports The Weekly Latin America.
Venezuela
Chevron’s exit from Venezuela would deal a significant blow to the country’s oil production, according to a Financial Times explainer.
Dominican Republic
At least 13 people have died and more than 70 have been injured after a roof fell at a nightclub in the capital of the Dominican Republic today, reports the Associated Press. (See also New York Times.)
Chile
Chile's Indigenous communities in the lithium-rich Atacama Desert are in talks with two of the country’s biggest miners to gain more influence over plans to increase extraction of the battery metal, reports Reuters.