LatinNews Daily - 20 March 2026

*Panama’s maritime authority (AMP) and President José Raúl Mulino have rejected claims by Panama Ports Company (PPC), a subsidiary of Hong Kong-headquartered CK Hutchison Holdings, made on 16 March that the Panamanian government had failed to file its response by a 13 March deadline in an arbitration case. CK Hutchison filed the case last month before the France-headquartered International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) after Panama’s supreme court (CSJ) ruled in January against a contract granted to PPC, for the ownership of the Balboa and Cristóbal ports on the Panama Canal – a ruling widely considered a victory for the US which has been seeking to curb Chinese influence in the region. In a statement yesterday AMP said Panama had “fully complied with the rules” in relation to the arbitration case. According to PPC’s 16 March statement, Panama “stated that it was not prepared and was not able to respond on time because it had not hired lawyers, was unfamiliar with the dispute, and needed time to develop a plan, to obtain a partial extension”. It also accused Panama of continuing to “disregard the rule of law, through and after its radical occupation, raid and seizure of the facilities and property of PPC” and said that Panama “also continues to hold improperly seized investor documents, refusing to give PPC access to its own archives, computers, and proprietary and legally protected documents”. Speaking yesterday to journalists, Mulino dismissed PPC’s claims as “lies and infamy”, saying that Panama was prepared but the government’s lawyers had only been notified on 11 March by CK Hutchison of its case, giving it just two days to respond.

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