Panama: Crossroads of Empires · Episode 18 of 24 · 23 min
Panama Today: The Crossroads of Empires, Contested Again
This closing look at modern Panama covers its canal-and-banking economy, the Panama Papers and the 2024 acquittal of the Mossack Fonseca defendants, and the water crisis. It also covers the 2025-26 tug-of-war between Washington and Beijing over the canal's ports, with Indigenous nations and the Cobre Panamá mine fight on the front lines. It is current as of mid-2026.
Who's who
- José Raúl Mulino+5 more episodesPanama's president since July 2024
- Donald Trump+11 more episodesU.S. President who warned of Chinese influence at the canal
Where it happens
- Panama Canal+3 more episodesCenter of the ports and water disputes
- Colón Free Zone, PanamaPart of Panama's logistics and banking identity
- Gardi Sugdub, Panama+1 more episodeIsland community relocating because of climate change
- Cobre Panamá mine, PanamaCopper mine shut in 2023, restart contested
- Darién GapMigration route with record crossings in 2023
Timeline
- 2016Panama Papers leak; canal expansion opens
- 2023Cobre Panamá mine shut; record Darién crossings; drought throttles canal
- June 2024Court acquits all Mossack Fonseca defendants
- July 2024Mulino takes office
- 2025CK Hutchison agrees to sell its ports to a BlackRock-led group; Panama exits Belt and Road
- Early 2026Panama's Supreme Court voids the CK Hutchison port concessions
Still debated
The ports dispute is unresolved, with arbitration ongoing, and is framed differently as U.S. security versus Panamanian sovereignty. The Mossack Fonseca acquittal rested on evidentiary and technical grounds, not a finding that nothing wrong occurred. Mulino's agenda on the mine and Law 462 is politically divisive.
← PreviousThe Mega-Expansion: How Panama Bet $5 Billion on Its Canal — and WonNext →Green Hell Reopens: US Troops Return to Panama's Jungle School
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