Dec. 26 (UPI) — President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Miami-Dade County, Fla., commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera as U.S. ambassador to Panama.
Trump made the announcement Wednesday, days after demanding that control of the Panama Canal be returned to the United States due to “unfair” trade practices. He describes Marino Cabrera as a “fierce fighter for America First principles.”
“As a Miami-Dade County commissioner, and vice chairman of the International Trade Consortium, he has been instrumental in driving economic growth, and fostering International partnerships,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump’s Christmas Day announcement was among a series of posts addressing his wishes for international affairs.
Trump wrote that he has encouraged hockey legend Wayne Gretzky to run for prime minister of Canada, also referring to the position as “Governor of Canada.”
He commented on Canada’s tax system, claiming taxes would be cut by more than 60% if it became the 51st U.S. state.
And he also continued his campaign for control of the Panama Canal, claiming that Chinese military forces are illegally occupying it.
China does not control or occupy the Panama Canal. The canal is operated by the Panama Canal Authority, an autonomous government agency.
The Panama Canal is a man-made waterway that is key to trade passing between the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. The United States held the rights to build and operate on the Panama Canal in the early 1900s as part of the Hay-Herran Treaty between the United States and Colombia.
Panama President Jose Raul Mulino has rejected the notion that Panama would hand over control of the canal to the United States.
“As president, I want to express precisely that every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent area belong to Panama, and will continue to be,” Mulino said in a statement. “The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable.”
Panama took control of the Panama Canal as part of a treaty signed by U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian military leader Omar Torrijos in 1977. Decades earlier, President Theodore Roosevelt had given his support for Panamanian independence from Colombia, to include control of the Panama Canal.
The Carter-Torrijos Treaties were a two-phase agreement.
The first phase, the Permanent Neutrality Treaty, gave the United States the right to use its military to defend the neutrality of the Panama Canal.
The second phase, the Panama Canal Treaty, was the U.S. agreement to give control of the canal to Panama by Dec. 31, 1999. The United States honored those agreements.