Protesters in Panama burn US flags ahead of Secretary of State Rubio's visit

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(31 Jan 2025)
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RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Panama City, Panama - 31 January 2025
1. People protesting against visit of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Panama, UPSOUND (Spanish): "Our homeland is not for sale; we will defend our homeland"
2. Women with Panamanian flags, UPSOUND (Spanish): "...to become a really free county. For how many more centuries will we continue to be an American colony?"
3. Protesters holding banner that reads (Spanish): "My country, my sovereignty, my canal."
4. Effigies of US President Donald Trump and Panama President José Raúl Mulino placed over US flags on the street, next to protesters
5. Various close of Trump effigy over US flag
6. Protesters next to Mulino effigy
7. Protest blowing up effigies with firecrackers

STORYLINE:
A small protest erupted in Panama on Friday as Marco Rubio, the U.S. Secretary of State under the Trump administration is due to head to the Central American country.

The protesters included the teachers' union (ASOPROF), with around one hundred people in attendence. They burnt US flags and lit-up effigies with the faces of both Donald Trump and Marco Rubio with banners reading ‘My country, my sovereignty, my canal’.

Rubio’s visit comes amidst a context of a war of words between President Donald Trump and the Panamanian leader José Raúl Mulino.

Trump has repeatedly stated that China has too much influence in the canal and said its ownership should revert back to the U.S.

Panama is the first stop of a five nation tour which will see Rubio, the first Hispanic to hold the nation’s most senior Cabinet post, promoting Trump’s foreign policy approach which includes a tough approach on immigration and narcotics.

Limiting immigration and fighting narcotics smuggling are major elements of that effort, but another key priority will be curbing China’s growing influence in the Western Hemisphere, topped by reasserting U.S. control over the Panama Canal.

The American-built canal was given over to the Panamanians in 1999 and they object strongly to Trump's demand to hand it back.

AP Video by Matías Delacroix

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