The U.S. State Department revoked the travel visas of a former president of Panama and a Panamanian presidential candidate, a move the politicians said was direct retaliation for speaking out against recent deals their country made with President Trump.
Martín Torrijos, who was president of Panama from 2004 to 2009, announced at a news conference on Monday that he had been notified by the U.S. government that his visa had been canceled. Ricardo Lombana, a lawyer who came in second in Panama’s presidential election last year, said he received word in an email on Monday that his visa had also been yanked.
“I want to warn you that this is not just about me, and not just in my capacity as former president of the republic,” Mr. Torrijos said. “This is a warning to all Panamanians that criticism of the Panamanian government’s actions regarding its relations with the United States will not be tolerated.”
The visa revocations came after months of tensions between Panama and Mr. Trump, who quickly after taking office vowed to take back the Panama Canal, which was built by the United States, but returned to Panama by President Jimmy Carter.
Panama’s current president, José Raúl Mulino, vowed to stand up for Panama’s sovereignty but then took measures that his critics called concessions to Mr. Trump. Mr. Mulino agreed to accept non-Panamanian migrants deported from the United States and signed an agreement that would allow more U.S. troops on three former U.S. bases in Panama.
The United States said Mr. Mulino had also agreed to waive the fees American warships pay to transit the canal — a deal Mr. Mulino denied making.
Mr. Torrijos and Mr. Lombana were political rivals who both ran for president last year, losing to Mr. Mulino. (Mr. Torrijos came in third.)
They joined forces in April to speak out after the U.S. defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, visited Panama, calling the trip critical to secure the canal and “counter China’s maligned influence” in the region.
Mr. Hegseth and Mr. Mulino signed several agreements, including one allowing increased presence of U.S. troops in the country.
The two politicians joined a group of about 1,500 people who signed an open letter calling the deals “harmful to national sovereignty.”
The U.S. State Department declined to explain why the two politicians’ travel visas were revoked. “Visa records are confidential under U.S. law; therefore, we cannot comment on individual cases,” the State Department said in a statement. “What we can say is that a U.S. visa is a privilege, and not a right.”
The Pentagon and a spokeswoman for Panama’s presidency did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Carlos Ruiz-Hernández, a former deputy foreign minister of Panama who helped negotiate the agreements, said the opposition politicians exaggerated the contents of the accords, which he considered standard memorandums of understanding for military training.
Critics who accuse Mr. Mulino of capitulating to the Trump administration ignore the times he publicly pushed back against the Trump administration, he said.
“He calls balls and strikes,” Mr. Ruiz-Hernández said.
But Mr. Torrijos and Mr. Lombana say their vocal opposition was enough to get them barred from entering the United States, what would be an alarming move considering that the State Department generally uses visa revocations to punish foreign officials for acts of corruption or human rights abuses.
Three other former Panamanian presidents have had their visas revoked for corruption, including Juan Carlos Varela, Ricardo Martinelli and Ernesto Pérez Balladares, who was accused of trafficking visas for Chinese immigrants.
“It seems like the United States of America, or at least the government of the United States of America, didn’t like at all that we have our voice and defend our dignity,” Mr. Lombana said in an interview.
He said the accords with the United States violated Panama’s laws and its Constitution. Panamanians were particularly rankled because the English version of the joint communiqué between Panama and the United States left out a key sentence that the Spanish version included — which emphasized respecting Panama’s sovereignty.
Mr. Torrijos and Mr. Lombana said that sticking up for their country was more important than being allowed to enter the United States.
“If defending my country’s interests and rejecting foreign military presence carries with it the consequence of having my visa revoked,” Mr. Torrijos said, “I accept this with pride.”
Frances Robles is a Times reporter covering Latin America and the Caribbean. She has reported on the region for more than 25 years.
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