PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama President José Raúl Mulino said Thursday that he will not renegotiate an agreement with the United States to give U.S. troops access to Panamanian facilities, despite protests charging that he compromised the country’s sovereignty.
On Tuesday, thousands of Panamanians marched in the capital in the largest protest yet against an agreement signed during last month’s visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The U.S. embassy followed with a statement Wednesday saying that the agreement did not allow for establishing military bases in Panama. A U.S. military presence in Panama is sensitive, since people still remember the U.S. invasion in 1989 and U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested that the U.S. take back control of the Panama Canal.
“Panama’s sovereignty is not at stake, it’s not handed over, it’s not given,” Mulino said during his weekly press conference. He insisted the agreement would not lead to U.S. bases in Panama.
Later Thursday, the new U.S. ambassador to Panama, Kevin Marino Carbera, said in a news conference that “the memorandum (of understanding) is going to strengthen our cooperation against drug trafficking and protect the (Panama) canal and we know that's the responsibility of both countries according to the (canal) treaty.”
The locations where U.S. troops and contractors will have access will always remain under the control of Panama and it can terminate the agreement with six months notice, the Panamanian government has said.
Protests during recent weeks have closed streets and drawn thousands.
Mulino said they were the result of political interests.
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U.S. Ambassador to Panama Kevin Marino Cabrera gives a press conference in Panama City, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
U.S. Ambassador to Panama Kevin Marino Cabrera gives a press conference in Panama City, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.
A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.
Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.
For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.
The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”
Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.
Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)
