Panama President Says US Threatens to Revoke Visas Over Relations with China | Donald Trump News

José Raul Mulino affirms that the policy of removing visas is “not consistent” with the “good relations” that he hopes to maintain with the United States.

Panama’s President José Raul Mulino said someone at the U.S. embassy threatened to cancel the visas of Panamanian officials.

His statements come as US President Donald Trump’s administration pressures Panama to limit its ties with China.

Responding to a question from a reporter during his weekly press conference, Mulino said — without providing evidence — that a U.S. embassy official is “threatening to take visas,” adding that such actions are “not consistent with the good relations that I aspire to maintain with the United States.” He did not name the person responsible.

The U.S. Embassy in Panama did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Trump administration has previously declined to comment on individual visa decisions.

But in September, the US State Department said in a statement that the country was committed to countering China’s influence in Central America. He added that it would restrict visas for people with ties to the Chinese Communist Party or undermining democracy in the region in China’s name.

Earlier this week, the Trump administration revoked the visas of six foreigners considered by U.S. officials to have made mocking remarks or ridiculed the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last month.

Similar cases have surfaced recently in the region. In April, former Costa Rican president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias said the United States had canceled his visa. In July, Vanessa Castro, vice president of Costa Rica’s Congress, said the U.S. embassy told her her visa had been revoked, citing alleged contacts with the Chinese Communist Party.

Panama has become particularly susceptible to tensions between the United States and China due to the strategic importance of the Panama Canal.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Panama in February in his first foreign trip as a top U.S. diplomat and called on Panama to immediately reduce China’s influence over the canal.

Panama has strongly denied any Chinese influence over the operation of the canal, but bowed to US pressure to push the Hong Kong-based company that operated the ports at both ends of the canal to sell its concession to a consortium.

Mulino said Panama would maintain the neutrality of the canal.

“They are free to give and accept a visa to whoever they want, but without threatening to say ‘If you don’t do anything, I will take the visa,'” Mulino said Thursday.

He stressed that the underlying issue – the conflict between the United States and China – “does not involve Panama.”