Let’s call this what it is: the United States and Panama are back on the parade ground together, practicing how to keep the Panama Canal open and out of trouble.
Starting today, about 50 U.S. Marines and roughly 60 Panamanian security personnel will run joint military exercises focused squarely on canal defense. Not regime change. Not flag planting. Just making sure one of the world’s most important chokepoints doesn’t get messed with.
The training runs through Feb. 26 and takes place at Panama’s jungle warfare school and naval infantry bases—terrain chosen because the canal isn’t some neat concrete trench, but a long, vulnerable system of locks, reservoirs, jungle approaches, and narrow access points. About five percent of global trade passes through there. That alone tells you why this matters.
Panamanian forces are in charge. The Marines are there to share infantry and combined-operations know-how, not run the show. This isn’t new—similar drills happened last year—but this is the first extended exercise of 2026, and it comes with more political baggage than usual.
That baggage showed up late last year when President Donald Trump publicly touted about “reclaiming” the canal, citing alleged Chinese influence. Panama’s president, José Raúl Mulino, shut that down earlier this month, reminding Washington—and anyone else listening—that Panama has owned, operated, and defended the canal since 1999 under the Torrijos-Carter Treaties—end of discussion.
Still, canal security isn’t theoretical anymore. Global shipping disruptions, sabotage fears, cyber threats, and plain old nature have made chokepoints suddenly feel fragile again. Panama knows this. So does the Pentagon. Hence the boots, the maps, and the rehearsals.
The drills focus on coordination, reconnaissance, and protection—no combat operations, no live-fire theatrics. Just planning for what happens if something goes wrong and making sure everyone’s radios work when it counts.
The Marines and U.S. Army units participated in the same training last August with the Panamanians.
Critics inside Panama are wary, citing the long shadow of U.S. military involvement in the region. The government insists the exercises respect Panamanian sovereignty and are strictly defensive.
Translation: nobody wants a fight. Everybody wants the canal open.