Frequent droughts have pushed authorities to pursue a controversial plan to dam a river to save the waterway — an act that would flood the homes of thousands of people.

The U.S. president has announced several times in recent weeks that he intends to «bring back» the Panama Canal. His words bring back bad memories.

Since returning to office, President Trump has made repeated claims that China operates the Panama Canal and threatened to take it back from the Panama Canal Authority, which has controlled it since 1999.

Panama’s president has said that he instructed the country’s foreign minister to not discuss the U.S. government’s allegations of Chinese interference in the operations of the Panama Canal with the visiting head of U.

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino has dismissed the claims by the United States that China "controlling the Panama Canal". The president said at a press conference on Thursday that he has instructed Panama's Foreign Minister to firmly reject the U.