Jorge Arango

I’m very proud of my country tonight. Once again, we have proven capable of taking a major national decision via democratic vote, peacefully and in a very organized manner.

I’ve always thought the phrase “Panama Canal” is a bit of a misnomer. It was US capital, know-how, engineering, equipment, and leadership that built the Canal. (Perhaps a more fitting name would be “The US Canal through Panama”.) As a matter of fact, Panama owes its independence to the fact that Colombia (of which Panama was a province) was hesitant to allow the Americans to build the Canal.

However, the generation of Panamanians that preceded my own fought to have the US turn over the Canal to Panama, and in 1977 the Torrijos-Carter treaties set in motion the transference of the Canal to Panamanian control. The official transference happened on December 31, 1999, at which time Panama took over control and operation of the waterway.

The Canal expansion project will bring many benefits—primarily social and economic—to Panama. However, perhaps the most important benefit is that this project will give us the opportunity to mature as a country. The expansion is a huge undertaking, and its effect will have an important impact on world trade. A large spotlight will be shone over the next few years on Panama; we can now prove to the world that we are capable of such an undertaking in an organized, transparent (a concern, given our government’s track record at undertaking large-scale, cash-rich projects such as this one) and efficient manner.

And, done correctly, the project will give us the opportunity to make this truly Panama’s Canal: cared for and improved by a Panamanian administration.

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