00:00The Panama Canal is a strategic canal linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
00:11We'll look back at the history of its construction and the geopolitical issues surrounding it.
00:17Due to its geography, Panamanian territory stands out as a strategic territory.
00:23Projects to build the canal began in the 19th century.
00:26At the time, Panama was under Colombian sovereignty.
00:35From 1881, the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique de Panama, a French company headed by Ferdinand de la Spee, supervised the construction of the Suez Canal, but technical difficulties brought it to a halt.
00:49The United States saw it as a way to connect their two coasts more quickly while avoiding the perilous Cape Horn.
01:07They took over the project but were unable to sign an agreement with Colombia.
01:11Panama's independence on November 3, 1903 revived the project.
01:21The United States then signed the Buno-Varilla Agreement with the new state.
01:27They obtained a perpetual concession on the canal and the area bordering it in exchange for a few million dollars per year.
01:33The canal was inaugurated on August 15, 1914.
01:44The United States control-fueled resentment and nationalism among the Panamanian population.
01:49Riots broke out in 1947, the one on January 9 and 10, 1964, left 25 dead and caused a diplomatic rupture between the United States and Panama.
02:07In 1968, General Toros took power in Panama.
02:11He renegotiated the agreement with Washington.
02:21The Toros-Carter Treaty came into effect in 1979.
02:25It provided for the end of the American presence and return management of the canal to Panama 20 years later.
02:35In December 1999, this was done.
02:40Panama recovered the canal.
02:41It has since been administered by the Panama Canal Authority, which is independent of political power.
02:51Five to six percent of the world's maritime trade passes through it.
02:56The canal feeds the interests of other powers.
03:01Since the late 1990s, the ports of Balboa and Cristobal, on either side of the canal,
03:07have been under the control of the Hong Kong company Hutchinson Ports Holding.
03:11Beijing has also established itself as the second largest user of the canal.
03:23This has led Donald Trump to denounce a supposed takeover of the canal by China,
03:28in addition to tariffs that the American president considers excessive.
03:32Since his return to the White House, he has said that he wants to regain control of the Panama Canal.
03:39The commercial weight of the United States has recently changed the positions of private stakeholders
03:50and Panamanian authorities regarding the canal.
03:53In March 2025, Hutchinson Ports Holding announced the sale of separate shares in port infrastructure,
04:03particularly in Panama.
04:04Panama has also announced its withdrawal from the Chinese New Silk Road project,
04:15which had joined in 2017,
04:17and in April 2025 the country signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Washington
04:22authorizing the temporary return of American soldiers to its soil 25 years later.
04:27All of this speaks to the continued strong influence of the United States in the region.
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