Authorities said the people released on Saturday will have the option of extending their stay in Panama up to 90 days if needed, allowing them to begin the legal process for resettlement or voluntary return to their homeland.

The group was released from the Darien, a dangerous jungle region near the border with Colombia and a key transit route for many migrants crossing from South America on foot. They had been in the camp since mid-February after their deportation from the US.

Rights groups argue the release was a way for Panama to wash its hands of responsibility amid mounting human rights criticism.

Many of the released migrants say they were fleeing violence and repression in China, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Nepal, and other countries.

As part of the US administration’s policy of ramping up migrant deportations, Panama reached a deal with Washington under which it received the deported third-country migrants, taking over the responsibility for their repatriation or resettlement.

Immigration advocates and rights groups have denounced the arrangement as cruel, as it allows for the US to export its deportation process.

The agreement also prompted human rights concerns when hundreds of deportees detained in a hotel in Panama City held up notes to their windows pleading for help and saying they were scared to return to their countries.

Under international refugee law, people have the right to apply for asylum when they are fleeing conflict or persecution, and they cannot be forcibly sent back home.

Those deported migrants who refused to return to their home countries, however, were sent to Darien, where they spent weeks in poor conditions, had their phones taken away, were unable to access legal counsel and were not told where they were going next.

Among those who got off one of the buses carrying the released migrants on Saturday was 27-year-old Nikita Gaponov. He fled Russia due to repression for being part of the LGBTQ+ community and said he was detained at the US border but not allowed to make an asylum claim.

Hayatullah Omagh, a 29-year-old who fled Afghanistan in 2022 after the Taliban took control, was released on Saturday and is also in legal limbo, scrambling to find a path forward without having to return to his homeland.

“I can’t go back to Afghanistan under any circumstances … It is under the control of the Taliban, and they want to kill me. How can I go back?”

Panamanian authorities also denied accusations of ill-treatment of the migrants, but blocked journalists from accessing the camp and cancelled a planned press visit last week.

The sale comes after weeks of complaining by President Donald Trump that the canal is under Chinese control and that the US should take control of the major shipping route.

Through a subsidiary, CK Hutchison Holding operates ports at the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean entrances to the canal.

It said Tuesday that it would sell its interests as part of a deal worth $22.8bn (£17.8bn).

CK Hutchison, founded by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, is not owned by the Chinese government. But its base in Hong Kong means it operates under Chinese financial laws. It has operated the ports since 1997.

The deal includes a total of 43 ports in 23 countries around the world, including the two canal terminals. It will require approval by the Panamanian government.

The 51-mile (82km) Panama Canal cuts across the central American nation and is the main link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Up to 14,000 ships travel through it each year, including container ships carrying cars, natural gas and other goods, and military vessels.

It was built in the early 1900s. The US maintained control over the canal zone until 1977, when treaties gradually ceded the land back to Panama.

After a period of joint control, Panama took sole control in 1999.

Trump has made several arguments for retaking control of the canal and the surrounding area. He argued that Chinese influence is a national security threat, that the US investment in the initial building of the canal justifies taking back control, and that US ships are charged too much for using the waterway.

In a visit to Panama in February, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanded that the country make “immediate changes” to what he calls the “influence and control” of China over the canal.

Panama rejected the US government claims and President Jose Raul Mulino has said the canal “is and will remain” in the central American country’s hands.

In a statement announcing the business deal, Frank Sixt, co-managing director of CK Hutchison, said: “I would like to stress that the transaction is purely commercial in nature and wholly unrelated to recent political news reports concerning the Panama Ports.”

BlackRock is one of the world’s largest asset management companies. The group buying the ports also includes Terminal Investment Limited, a Swiss company.

There is silence, except for the swish of his broom across the floor of the small museum he runs documenting the life of his community in Panama, the Guna.

“Before, you could hear children shouting… music everywhere, neighbours arguing,” he says, “but now all the sounds have gone”.

His community, living on the tiny low-lying island of Gardi Sugdub, is the first in Panama to be relocated because of climate change.

The government has said they face “imminent risk” from rising sea levels, which scientists say are likely to render the island uninhabitable by 2050.

In June last year, most of the residents abandoned this cramped jumble of wooden and tin homes for rows of neat prefabricated houses on the mainland.

The relocation has been praised by some as a model for other groups worldwide whose homes are under threat, but even so, it has divided the community.

“My father, my brother, my sisters-in-law and my friends are gone,” says Delfino. “Sometimes the children whose families have stayed cry, wondering where their friends have gone, he says.

House after house is padlocked. About 1,000 people left, while about 100 stayed – some because there was not enough room in the new settlement. Others, like Delfino, are not fully convinced climate change is a threat, or simply did not want to leave.

He says he wants to stay close to the ocean, where he can fish. “The people that lose their tradition lose their soul. The essence of our culture is on the islands,” he adds.

The Guna have lived on Gardi Sugdub since the 19th Century, and even longer on other islands in this archipelago off Panama’s northern coast. They fled from the mainland to escape Spanish conquistadors and, later, epidemics and conflict with other indigenous groups.

They are known for their clothes called “molas”, decorated with colourful designs.

The Guna currently inhabit more than 40 other islands. Steve Paton, a scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, says it is “almost a certainty” that most, if not all, of the islands will be submerged before the end of the century.

As climate change causes the Earth to heat up, sea levels are rising as glaciers and ice sheets melt and seawater expands as it warms.

Scientists warn that hundreds of millions of people living in coastal areas around the world could be at risk by the end of the century.

On Gardi Sugdub, waves whipped up during the rainy season wash into homes, lapping below the hammocks where families sleep.

Mr Paton says, “it is very unlikely that the island will be habitable by 2050, based on current and projected rates of sea level rise”.

However, the first discussions about relocation began, more than a decade ago, because of population growth, not climate change.

The island is just 400m long and 150m wide. Some residents see overcrowding as the more pressing problem. But others, like Magdalena Martínez, fear the rising sea:

“Every year, we saw the tides were higher,” she says. “We couldn’t cook on our stoves and it was always flooded… so we said ‘we have to get out of here’.”

Magdalena was among those who clambered into motor boats and wooden canoes last June, bound for new homes.

“I brought just my clothes and some kitchen utensils,” she says. “You feel like you are leaving pieces of your life on the island.”

The new community, Isberyala, is – weather permitting – just 15 minutes by boat, followed by a five-minute drive, from Gardi Sugdub. But it feels like another world.

Identical white and yellow homes line tarmacked roads.

Magdalena’s eyes light up as she shows off the “little house” where she lives with her 14-year-old granddaughter Bianca and her dog.

Each house has a small area of land behind it – a luxury not available on the island. “I want to plant yucca, tomatoes, bananas, mangoes and pineapples,” she enthuses.

“It is quite sad to leave a place you’ve been in for so long. You miss your friends, the streets where you lived, being so close to the sea,” she says.

Isberyala was built with $15m (£12m) from the Panamanian government and additional funding from the Inter-American Development Bank.

In its new meeting house, which is roofed with branches and leaves in the traditional style, waits Tito López, the community’s sayla – or leader.

“My identity and my culture aren’t going to change, it’s just the houses that have changed,” he says.

He is lying in a hammock, and explains that as long as the hammock keeps its place in Guna culture, “the heart of the Guna people will be alive”.

When a Guna dies, they lie for a day in their hammock for family and friends to visit. It is then buried next to them.

In the state-of-the-art new school, students aged 12 and 13 are rehearsing Guna music and dances. Boys in bright shirts play pan pipes, while girls wearing molas shake maracas.

The cramped school on the island has closed now, and students whose families stayed there travel each day to the new building with its computers, sports fields and library.

Magdalena says conditions in Isberyala are better than on the island, where she says they had only four hours of electricity a day and had to fetch drinking water by boat from a river on the mainland.

In Isberyala, the power supply is constant, but the water – pumped from wells nearby – is only switched on for a few hours a day. The system has at times broken down for days at a time.

Also, there is no healthcare yet. Another resident, Yanisela Vallarino, says one evening her young daughter was unwell and she had to arrange transport back to the island late at night to see a doctor.

Panamanian authorities told the BBC that construction of a hospital in Isberyala stalled a decade ago over lack of funding. But they said they hoped to revive the plan this year, and were assessing how to create space for remaining residents to move from the island.

Yanisela is delighted that she is now able to attend evening classes in the new school, but she still returns to the island frequently.

“I’m not used to it yet. And I miss my house,” she says.

Communities around the world will be “inspired” by the way the residents of Gardi Sugdub have confronted their situation, says Erica Bower, a researcher on climate displacement at Human Rights Watch.

“We need to learn from these early cases to understand what success even looks like,” she says.

As afternoon arrives, the school activities give way to the shouts and scuffles of football, basketball and volleyball.

“I prefer this place to the island because we have more space to play,” says eight-year-old Jerson, before diving for a football.

Magdalena sits with her granddaughter, teaching her to sew molas.

“It’s hard for her, but I know she’s going to learn. Our unique ways can’t be lost,” says Magdalena.

Asked what she misses about the island, she replies: “I wish we were all here.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has since rowed back on his department’s claim, but called the fee for American vessels “absurd” due to a treaty binding the US to protect the canal if it comes under attack.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly voiced his desire to regain control of the waterway since taking office and has refused to rule out retaking it by force. He is due to speak with Mulino on Friday.

The Panama Canal is a 51-mile (82km) passage that links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the Central American country.

All vessels are required to pay a fee, based on size and type, for crossing the waterway but US ships have priority of passage.

In a post on X on Wednesday, the State Department wrote: “U.S. government vessels can now transit the Panama Canal without charge fees, saving the U.S. government millions of dollars a year.”

Mulino reacted to the statement by saying he rejects “this method of managing bilateral relations on the basis of lies and falsehoods.”

He said he asked his ambassador in Washington to take “firm steps” to reject the claim, calling it “simply and plainly intolerable.”

Mulino added that US government vessels, including navy vessels, paid “$6-7m [£4.8-5.6m] a year” for the right of passage.

“It’s not as if the canal toll is breaking the economy of the United States,” he added.

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) also made a statement saying it had “not made any adjustment” to tolls, adding that it was open to establishing a dialogue.

After Rubio and Mulino’s meeting, Panama announced it would not renew its membership of China’s infrastructure-building programme, known as the Belt and Road Initiative.

Rubio welcomed this move, calling it “a great step forward”, though Panama denied that the decision had been made at the request of the US.

Trump has expressed fears that China could close the canal to the US in the event of a crisis – something Panama and China have strongly denied.

On Wednesday, China’s Foreign Affairs spokesman, Lin Jian, said its partnership with Panama was yielding “fruitful results” and urged the country to “resist external interferences.”

Rubio met the canal’s administrator, Ricaurte Vásquez Morales alongside Mulino on Sunday. America’s top diplomat demanded that Panama make “immediate changes” to China’s “influence and control” over the waterway.

This echoed Trump’s inaugural address, where he stated that the canal was being operated by China and he wanted to “take it back.”

Mulino has denied these allegations and rejected the plan, saying that the trade route “is and will remain” in Panama’s hands.

The US built the canal in the early 20th Century but, after years of protest, President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty with Panama in 1977 to gradually hand back control of the waterway. Trump has called this “a big mistake” since returning to office.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been on a tour of Central America to discuss migration and drug trafficking in the region.

Rubio’s statement responding to Mulino’s accusation of US “lies” was given at his last stop, the Dominican Republic.

The State Department said in a statement on X that its government vessels “can now transit the Panama Canal without charge fees, saving the US government millions of dollars a year”.

Responding to the comments, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) said it was “empowered to set tolls and other fees for transiting the canal,” adding that it had “not made any adjustments to them”.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly voiced his desire to retake control of the waterway, which is key to global trade.

The 51-mile (82km) Panama Canal cuts across the Central American nation and is the main link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has been on a visit to Latin American countries this week, demanded that Panama make “immediate changes” to what he calls the “influence and control” of China over the canal.

America’s top diplomat said Panama had to act or the US would take necessary measures to protect its rights under a treaty between the two countries.

During a visit to the country, Rubio met Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino, as well as the canal’s administrator, Ricaurte Vásquez Morales.

The ACP said after his visit that it had conveyed its intention to work with the US navy to optimise transit priority for its vessels through the canal.

This commitment for dialogue with Washington remained, it said in a separate statement on Wednesday.

US vessels make up a significant proportion of traffic in the canal. In 2024, 52% of transits through the waterway had ports of origin or destination in the United States, according to the canal’s authorities.

Up to 14,000 ships use the canal each year to avoid a lengthy and costly trip around the tip of South America.

In his inaugural speech, President Trump said he planned to “take back” the canal, alleging that China was operating it and Panama had “broken” a promise to remain neutral.

The plan was strongly rejected by Mulino, who said the key trade route “is and will remain” in the country’s hands.

He also rejected Trump’s allegations about China’s influence, saying there is “no presence of any nation in the world that interferes with our administration”.

Trump recently reiterated his claim. Despite saying earlier this week he was “not happy” with the situation, he acknowledged that Panama had “agreed to certain things”. Mulino has said his country will not continue its membership in China’s infrastructure-building programme, the Belt and Road Initiative.

The US built the canal in the early 20th Century but, after years of protest, President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty with Panama in 1977 to gradually hand back control of the waterway, which Trump has branded “a big mistake”.

America’s top diplomat said Panama must act or the US would take necessary measures to protect its rights under a treaty between the two countries.

The warning follows President Donald Trump’s vow to retake the canal and a meeting between Rubio and Jose Raul Mulino, Panama’s conservative president, in Panama City on Sunday.

The two men appeared to emerge from their two-hour meeting with different interpretations.

Mulino told reporters he did not see a serious threat of US military force to seize the canal, saying he had proposed technical-level talks with the US to address Mr Trump’s concerns about Chinese influence.

However, Trump’s vow to retake the canal has sparked a significant backlash in Panama. Protesters in Panama City on Friday burned effigies of Trump and Rubio.

Riot police moved in on another crowd of demonstrators, firing tear gas and wrestling people away. The clashes were small-scale, but the resistance to the US president’s stance is widely felt.

On Thursday, Mulino said the issue of the canal’s ownership would not be up for discussion with Rubio.

“I cannot negotiate or even open a negotiation process about the canal. It’s sealed, the canal belongs to Panama,” he said.

Mr Trump’s comments about the canal included an unfounded claim that Chinese soldiers are operating it. He also said American ships were unfairly charged more than others, despite the fact such a practice would be unlawful under treaty agreements.

The waterway is in fact owned and operated by the Panamanian government, under a neutrality treaty signed with the US decades ago. However, Chinese companies have invested heavily in ports and terminals near the canal. A Hong Kong based company runs two of the five ports close to its entrances.

But President Trump’s muscular approach – even refusing to rule out military action to take the canal – has aroused a strongly patriotic reaction in the small strategic nation.

“It’s ridiculous,” says Panama City resident Mari, who asked not to have her surname published.

“There’s a treaty that he has to respect, and there’s nothing in the treaty that says that we cannot have ports run by the Chinese,” she told the BBC, pointing out that there is Chinese investment in American ports and cities.

Surrounded by tourists and stalls hawking Panama hats and souvenirs, Mari explained that many residents have strong memories of US control of the canal and don’t want to go back.

The US and Panama signed a treaty in 1979, starting a handover process that saw Panama take full control of the canal in 1999.

“We could not cross into the canal zone without being arrested if we didn’t follow all the American rules. The minute you stepped across that border, you were in the United States,” Mari said.

“We had no rights within our own country, and we will not put up with that again… We are very insulted by [Trump’s] words.”

For some, Trump’s refusal to rule out the use of military force has also triggered suspicion and fear. It evokes memories of the 1989 US invasion of Panama to depose de facto ruler General Manuel Noriega, a conflict that lasted several weeks and rapidly overwhelmed Panamanian forces.

“I was the political leader of the opposition when Noriega said he was going to kill all the leaders of the opposition if the US were to invade,” recalled former Panama congressman Edwin Cabrera, speaking to the BBC by the locks of the canal’s Pacific entrance.

“I heard the bombs and started seeing people dying… The only thing President Trump and Rubio have left to say is that they will invade us,” he told the BBC. “I wouldn’t like to live that again in the 21st Century, relive the imperial experience. Panama is in the middle of war between two powers, the USA and China, while we are looking at the sky.”

Marco Rubio is the first Hispanic Secretary of State and is well known for his hawkish positions on some leaders in the region and on China. While Panama closely co-operates with the US on many issues, Mr Rubio’s visit is meant to signal the administration’s intolerance of countries soaking up Chinese investment in what the US sees as its own backyard.

In Panama, he claims China could ultimately use its interests at the ports to block US merchant or war ships in the event of a conflict or trade war.

“If China wanted to obstruct traffic in the Panama Canal, they could. That’s a fact… That’s what President Trump is raising and we’re going to address that topic… That dynamic cannot continue,” Mr Rubio said on The Megyn Kelly Show last week.

Despite the overwhelming support among ordinary Panamanians for their country’s ownership of the canal, some remain sceptical of their own leadership, arguing profits from the waterway don’t filter through to enough ordinary Panamanians.

“What you see here – that the United States and Donald Trump want to take back the canal – that’s what we call cause and effect,” says Andre Howell, a hotel worker in the historic centre of Panama City.

“They’re not administrating the Panama Canal the right way… No Panamanians have [the] benefits,” he said.

Kicking off his five-nation tour of the region, Rubio is expected to tour Panama’s strategic waterway and meet President Jose Raul Mulino on Sunday.

“It’s no accident that my first trip abroad as secretary of state will keep me in the hemisphere,” he wrote in a Wall Street Journal column on Friday.

The canal is a crucial link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and coasts, with 40 percent of US container traffic going through it.

Trump has refused to rule out military force to seize the Panama Canal, which the US handed over at the end of 1999, saying China has exerted too much control through its investment in surrounding ports.

In his inaugural address last month, Trump said the US will be “taking it back”, and refused to back down on Friday. “They’ve already offered to do many things,” Trump said of Panama, “but we think it’s appropriate that we take it back.”

He alleged that Panama was taking down Chinese-language signs to cover up how “they have totally violated the agreement” on the canal. “Marco Rubio is going over to talk to the gentleman that’s in charge,” Trump told reporters.

Rubio’s mission also comes on the heels of Trump-imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, and the freezing of nearly all US foreign aid – moves that signal a far more aggressive foreign policy.

Panama’s President Mulino has ruled out negotiating with the US over ownership of the canal. He said he hoped Rubio’s visit would instead focus on shared interests like migration and combating drug trafficking.

“It’s impossible, I can’t negotiate,” Mulino said on Thursday. “The canal belongs to Panama.”

Yet Rubio said he would make Trump’s intent clear. In an interview on Thursday with SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly, he said Trump’s desire is driven by legitimate national security interests stemming from growing concerns about Chinese activity and influence in Latin America.

“We are going to address that topic,” said Rubio. “The president’s been pretty clear he wants to administer the canal again. Obviously, the Panamanians are not big fans of that idea. That message has been brought very clear.”

Despite Mulino’s rejection of any negotiation, some believe Panama may be open to a compromise under which canal operations on both sides are taken away from the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports company.

What is unclear is whether Trump would accept the transfer of the concession to an American or European firm as meeting his demands, which appear to cover more than just operations.

“In some ways, Trump is pushing on an open door,” said Ryan Berg, director of the Americas programme at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, DC-based think tank. “But it will depend on how his red lines are defined.”

“There’s been a lot of heavy rhetoric and it will be up [to] Rubio to clarify it,” he said.

Mulino also reiterated on Thursday his rejection of US President Donald Trump’s accusation that the canal — which links the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean — is being operated by China.

Trump has pledged to take control of the strategic waterway, which is critical for trade.

“I cannot negotiate, much less open, a process of negotiation on the canal,” Mulino told reporters. “That is sealed. The canal belongs to Panama.”

Several US media outlets have reported that Rubio will travel to Panama and other countries in the region in the coming days, in his first foreign trip as US secretary of state.

The US helped build the canal and controlled it when it was first completed in 1914, but a 1977 treaty set the stage for the US to hand full control of the waterway to Panama in 1999.

Trump has made acquiring the canal a top foreign policy priority, claiming without evidence that Panama is overcharging US ships and allowing Chinese military presence around the canal.

Asked  earlier this month whether he would rule out the use of military force to achieve that aim, Trump told reporters: “I’m not going to commit to that.”

The US president also stressed the issue during his inauguration speech.

“American ships are being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape or form, and that includes the United States Navy,” he said. “And above all, China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”

According to the Panama Canal Authority, the agency that runs the waterway, the canal generated nearly $5bn in revenue last year.

On Thursday, Mulino said Panama has not received any information from the US about the “alleged military presence of another country in the canal”.

“The Panama Canal is controlled by Panama, and its administration has always been in Panamanian hands,” he said.

Mulino added that Panama has other issues to discuss with Rubio during his visit, including migration and drug trafficking.

Panama sits at the southern tip of Central America, bordering Colombia. Many migrants from South America travel through Panama to reach the US border.

The US invaded Panama in 1989 to topple then-President Manuel Noriega, who Washington accused of drug trafficking.

Trump made the remark during a news conference on Tuesday at which he also falsely stated that the Panama Canal was being operated by Chinese soldiers.

Panama’s Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha responded by saying that “the only hands operating the canal are Panamanian and that is how it is going to stay”.

The Panama Canal was managed by the US for decades but under a treaty signed by the late US President Jimmy Carter in 1977, it was handed over to the Panamanians on 31 December 1999.

In his news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, Trump described President Carter’s decision to hand the canal back as “a big mistake”.

He also expressed renewed interest in buying the Arctic island of Greenland – which is a self-governing territory of Denmark – as well as the Panama Canal.

Pressed by journalists on whether he would rule out using military or economic force to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal, he said: “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two.”

Panama’s foreign minister denied his country had received any kind of offer from the president-elect.

“Trump’s opinions today, that he has talked about a certain amount of money, are not true. No kind of offer has been received, let it be clear,” Martínez-Acha said.

He added that “our canal’s sovereignty is not negotiable and is part of our history of struggle and an irreversible conquest”.

Panama’s president, José Raúl Mulino, has not yet reacted directly to Trump’s latest remarks.

But at a colourful ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the handover of the canal to Panama held on 31 December, he told attendees to “rest assured, it will stay in our control forever”.

President Mulino has in the past appeared exasperated by Trump’s claims that the canal is under some sort of Chinese influence, saying “there are no Chinese soldiers in the canal, for the love of God”.

His government also stressed that “until 20 January, the US government is led by Joe Biden. From 20 January we will deal with Mr Trump and his government”.

“Panama is keen to co-operate and maintain excellent relations with the different governments.”

In recent days Trump has threatened to take the canal back into US control, accusing Panama of “ripping off” the US by charging high shipping rates.

In a message posted to his Truth Social account on Wednesday, Trump wrote: “Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal”.

Mulino called the claim “nonsense” and said that there is “absolutely no Chinese interference”.

“There is not a single Chinese soldier in the canal,” he told reporters in Panama City.

Mulino also rejected the possibility of reducing tolls for US ships or ceding control of the canal, a major shipping channel which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

“The canal is Panamanian and belongs to Panamanians. There’s no possibility of opening any kind of conversation around this reality,” he said.

After breaking ties with Taiwan, Panama established diplomatic ties with China in 2017, and Mulino said relations between the two countries were “respectful, well-managed … in terms of what is in the interest of both countries.

“His comments came a day after Trump said he would nominate a Florida lawmaker to be his ambassador to Panama.

Kevin Marino Cabrera, a Republican commissioner in Miami-Dade County, worked for Trump’s 2020 campaign and this year was Florida’s representative to the Republican National Committee.

Announcing his pick in a Christmas Day post on his Truth Social network, Trump said Cabrera “will do a fantastic job representing our Nation’s interests in Panama!”.

The president-elect also repeated claims that Panama is “ripping us off”.

On Sunday, Trump told a crowd of conservative activists: “The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, highly unfair.

“If shipping rates are not lowered, Trump said, “we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, quickly and without question”.

Trump has also said he did not want the Panama Canal “falling into the wrong hands” and specifically cited China.

China is the second-largest user of the Panama Canal after the US, according to data, and also has major investments in the central American country.

On Christmas Day, Trump fired off dozens of messages defending his policies and nominations, and repeated suggestions that the US annex Greenland and Canada.

It is unclear how serious Trump is about the territorial moves, or how they would be accomplished.

Up to 14,000 ships travel through the 51-mile (82km) canal each year, including container ships carrying cars, natural gas and other goods, and military vessels.

Colombia, France, and later the United States controlled the territory surrounding the canal during construction. France began work on the canal in 1881, but stopped in 1889 because of lack of investors’ confidence due to engineering problems and a high worker mortality rate.

The US took over the project in 1904 and opened the canal in 1914. The US continued to control the canal and surrounding Panama Canal Zone until the Torrijos–Carter Treaties provided for its handover to Panama in 1977.

After a period of joint American–Panamanian control, the Panamanian government took control in 1999. It is now managed and operated by the Panamanian government-owned Panama Canal Authority.

Canal transit costs have increased over the past year due to a historic drought, according to shipping industry website Lloyd’s List.

A Hong Kong-based company, CK Hutchison Holdings, manages two ports at the canal’s entrances.