The 2025 edition of the Panamax exercise includes maneuvers with special forces and the arrival of American planes and ships, in a context marked by geopolitical tensions and Washington’s interest in regaining influence on the interoceanic route.
The security forces of Panama and the United States carry out the joint Panamax 2025 exercise with simulations of defense and protection of the interoceanic Channel “in the face of possible threats,” the Panamanian Ministry of Public Security and the US Embassy reported on Thursday.
In a statement, the Panamanian security portfolio recalls that this exercise is an initiative that was born in 2002 that consists of two phases, one national and one multinational, that is, in which military forces from several countries participate.
Both phases include information exchange, training and training programs, as well as social activities and humanitarian aid, the official letter said.
He added that the development of the exercise involves the arrival of members of the United States Armed Forces, who participate in joint tactical and operational training activities with special units of the National Aeronaval Service (Senan), the National Police and the National Border Service (Senafront).
As part of these exercises and the celebration between April 8 and 10 of the Central American Security Conference (Centsec), the visit to Panama next week of the Secretary of Defense of the United States, Peter Hegseth, has been announced
The US embassy indicated that the United States and Panama are the co-hosts of the Centsec, through which the United States Southern Command “seeks to promote and facilitate dialogue and cooperation between regional security partners, focused on common challenges and objectives.”
This year’s conference “will focus on the defense of the region through joint operations and cybersecurity,” the diplomatic delegation said in a press release. “In addition to this conference, the US Department of Defense and the Ministry of Public Security of Panama conduct joint training with members of the National Aeronaval Service of Panama to strengthen the capabilities and security of both countries and the region.
For this training, there are 50 members of the US Marine Corps in Panama who will train alongside the Panamanian classes,” the diplomatic delegation said.
He added that “as part of the cooperation between the two countries, the crews of four F-18 Hornets aircraft, a C-130 Hercules aircraft and a P-8 Poseidon aircraft, the USS Chosin and USS Normandy ships, and the Coast Guard ship will arrive in Panama.”
In previous years, the participation of thousands of soldiers from 17 American countries in the Panama Canal protection drills has been reported, a relevant international trade route that serves more than 180 sea routes connecting 170 countries and reaching about 1,920 ports around the world.
These periodic exercises take place this 2025 in the midst of the diatribe of the Government of US President Donald Trump on the alleged Chinese control over the Channel, argued so far, by the presence of a Hong Kong operator in two of the five ports that exist around the interoceanic route. In that context, the US president has said that he will recover the navigable passage for the United States, which built and administered it in the last century for more than 80 years.
Mulino has responded susteadily that the Channel “is and will continue to be Panamanian” and has denied that China or any other country in the world influences its operation, which is in the hands of the autonomous Panama Canal Authority