Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday his government was breaking diplomatic relations with Panama after the country called a special meeting of the Organization of American States, OAS, to address the current state of protests in Caracas.
A dispute over a 1.6 billion dollar cost overrun in the Panama Canal's expansion took a new twist Wednesday after a Spanish company leading the project denied it halted work over the spat.
The Panama Canal Authority, or ACP, said on Wednesday it would be impossible to meet the demands of Italian builder Impregilo, which has called on the government agency to make an additional payment of up to 1 billion dollars to cover cost overruns affecting a project to expand the international waterway.
Panama Canal officials offered Tuesday to share the burden in a 283 million dollars fund to end a spat with a consortium threatening to halt the waterway's expansion over huge cost overruns. The proposal came after two days of intense talks under mediation of a Spanish cabinet minister who flew to Panama City for emergency meetings aimed at preventing a shutdown of the major project.
Spain stepped in on Friday to try to resolve a cost dispute over the expansion of Panama's canal, which has triggered a sell-off in the shares of Sacyr SA, the Spanish builder leading the project. Spain's Public Works minister, Ana Pastor, and Sacyr Chairman Manuel Manrique are due to travel to Panama on the weekend, Panama's president, Ricardo Martinelli, said.
Panama Foreign minister Fernando Núñez Fábrega underlined his country's traditional and committed support for Argentina's sovereignty claims over the Malvinas and other South Atlantic Islands and their adjoining maritime spaces, an issue that was discussed during this week's visit to Buenos Aires, a special guest of his peer Hector Timerman.
The world's largest biennial gathering of delegates in the global fight against corruption opened in Panama on Monday with the United Nations top crime fighter warning that the scourge not only hobbles sustainable development but generates other crimes.
The son of Suriname's president has been charged by the United States with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Dino Bouterse was allegedly paid millions of dollars to provide a base and weapons for Hezbollah fighters.
Panama reaffirmed its support for Argentina and its sovereignty claim over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands following on a complaint from Buenos Aires regarding a trip of Panamanian lawmakers to the Islands invited by the local government
Following an initiative from a group of lawmakers that recently visited the Falkland Islands, the Panama National Assembly signed a resolution for the creation of an “Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group” between the Falklands and Panama.