U.S. announces free access to Panama Canal, authority refutes it

Feb. 6, 2025

The U.S. government claimed its ships will access the Panama Canal for free, allegedly saving millions of dollars a year — a statement immediately refuted by the Panama Canal Authority.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Panama last weekend, and discussed with President José Raúl Mulino the possibility of granting U.S. Navy ships free passage. But Panama would need to find a way needs to find a way to so without breaching a neutrality clause banning preferential treatment for any country, reports the Wall Street Journal.

U.S. government vessels -- which would be primarily from the navy -- make up a small portion of the ships that go through the canal.

The United States and Panama are scheduled to hold new talks on tomorrow to discuss the canal, reports AFP.

More Regional Relations

• The constant daily commentary from Trump regarding trade tariffs that are variously threatened, implemented and suspended is not a sign of confusion, but rather a calculated strategy. “Trump entered the White House last month with more of a trade road map than many analysts appreciate. And pervasive uncertainty is a core feature,” argues the Washington Post.

• Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo agreed to take migrants from other countries who are being deported from the United States, the second country to agree to do so in as Rubio travels through Central America in a trip largely focused on migration. (Associated Press)

• Arévalo offered the U.S. to receive 40 percent more deportations, up from around 14 flights a week, and promised to expand diplomatic and commercial relations with Taiwan. In return, Rubio, who met with Arévalo yesterday, announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will support port construction and other projects including a metro system that Arévalo has promised. Rubio also said he would issue waivers to unfreeze USAID funding for anti-drug cooperation, reports El Faro.

• Rubio is in the Dominican Republic today. Haiti is expected to be a central topic of his meetings with President Luis Abinader, who a leading voice for more international assistance for Haiti’s security crisis and the need for the United Nations to intervene with a formal peacekeeping operation, reports the Miami Herald.

• Yesterday the U.S. announced an exemption in the Trump foreign aid freeze in order to fund the Haitian National Police and the Multinational Security Support mission. (AFP, see yesterday’s post)

• The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti released a report Tuesday on the human rights situation in Haiti in the fourth quarter of 2024 and called the situation “very alarming” and that “despite widespread human rights abuses and violations, the authorities have taken only minimal steps to hold perpetrators accountable.” (EFE)

• Rubio is expected to announced plans to seize a second plane belonging to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ’s government that is currently in the Dominican Republic, today. (Associated Press)

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Argentina to exit WHO

Argentina will follow Trump’s lead and withdraw from the World Health Organization. “We will never forget that they were the architects of the draconian lockdowns,” President Javier Milei wrote on X, referring to the W.H.O.’s support for broad quarantines during the pandemic. (Washington Post)

Milei’s decision prompted criticism from health organizations who say the move will reduce Argentina’s access to funding. Experts say the benefits Argentina receives from the WHO, including vaccine discounts and access to technical advisories, far outweigh membership costs. (New York Times, Guardian, Ámbito)

Actually leaving the organization will require Congress to pass a law, or a presidential decree subject to congressional review.

More Argentina

• Milei’s spokesman said that Argentina has also been examining whether to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, the main global pact to combat climate change, like the United States did last month. (New York Times)

• Argentina's presidential office also announced that Milei decided to ban gender change treatments and surgeries for minors, as well as impose limits on trans women being housed inside women's prisons, reports Reuters.

Ecuador

• Ecuador’s presidential election on Sunday occurs in the midst of a crackdown on crime that has seriously eroded human rights in the country, reports the Guardian. The cases of several children killed by soldiers are just the tip of the iceberg say activists.

Brazil

• Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that he is "worried" about high food prices in the country, but projected price growth would slow going forward and voiced overall optimism about the economy, reports Reuters.

Migration

• U.S. authorities said ten men they deported this week to the Guantanamo Bay military base are members of a Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua, which the U.S. They are being housed in the prison the U.S. used to house Al Qaeda, rather than the facilities dedicated to migrants, reports the New York Times.

Mexico

• Mexico’s pledge to tackle fentanyl smuggling is complicated by “cartels’ immense resources, the ease with which fentanyl is produced and moved and the insatiable demand for narcotics among U.S. consumers,” reports the New York Times.

Bolivia

• Former Bolivian President Evo Morales announced he will run in the August presidential elections with a “borrowed” party, after being expelled from his MAS party, and despite court rulings that bar him from running for a fourth presidential term. (EFE)

Venezuela

• The economic, social and migration crisis in Venezuela has led to a change: a feminization of fishing, traditionally a masculine activity — Guardian.

Histories

• Archaeologists using 3D mapping are uncovering the remains of thousands of ancient green cities in the Amazon with composted gardens, fisheries, and forests groomed into orchards, reports the Guardian.