Panama Lashes Back at Trump: 'You're Unwelcomed'
by Elizabeth Sexton
Donald Trump may be enjoying the launch of a new season of ”Celebrity Apprentice” but it will be a satisfaction he’ll have to relish in far from Panama.
Following Trump’s CNN remarks about Panama Central, he has been declared a “persona non grata” by the municipal council of Panama City – meaning Trump is not welcomed.
The AFP reports, that “according to Panamanian officials, Trump told CNN the United States had ‘stupidly’ handed over the Panama Canal to the country ‘in exchange for nothing.’”
In response, the council declared the US real estate tycoon not welcomed.
"We unanimously approved a resolution that declared Donald Trump persona non grata," Javier Ortega, a member of the council, told AFP Friday.
In 1999, under a 1977 treaty signed by former US president Jimmy Carter, the canal, linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, was handed over to Panama.
The Panamanian Commerce and Industry Minister Robert Henriquez, thinks the move was based on “political stupidity.”
"Somebody who has 400 million dollars invested in Panama should not speak this way," he said.