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Paraguay Opens Israel Embassy in Jerusalem after Moving it from Tel Aviv

A man opens a door at the new premises of the Paraguayan embassy in Jerusalem on December 12, 2024. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP)
A man opens a door at the new premises of the Paraguayan embassy in Jerusalem on December 12, 2024. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP)
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Paraguay Opens Israel Embassy in Jerusalem after Moving it from Tel Aviv

A man opens a door at the new premises of the Paraguayan embassy in Jerusalem on December 12, 2024. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP)
A man opens a door at the new premises of the Paraguayan embassy in Jerusalem on December 12, 2024. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP)

Paraguay formally opened its new Jerusalem embassy in Israel on Thursday in a ceremony attended by President Santiago Peña and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, following a back-and-forth struggle over the diplomatic seat that kicked off in 2018.
The South American nation's embassy had for decades been located in the coastal Israeli city of Tel Aviv, but in 2018 former President Horacio Cartes ordered its move to Jerusalem. Months later, the facility was moved back to Tel Aviv after an abrupt reversal announced by Cartes' successor, Mario Abdo, Reuters reported.
Cartes, a Netanyahu ally, is also a close confidant of Peña, with both men coming from Paraguay's conservative Colorado Party.
Peña took office last year and shortly afterwards announced the embassy's move back to Jerusalem. He traveled to Israel to officially open it on Thursday.
"This step symbolizes our commitment to shared values and the strengthening of the ties that build a future of peace, development and mutual understanding," he said at the new embassy's opening ceremony.

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Panama Leaders Past and Present Reject Trump’s Threat of Canal Takeover

The Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal is pictured in Panama City on December 23, 2024. (AFP)
The Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal is pictured in Panama City on December 23, 2024. (AFP)
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Panama Leaders Past and Present Reject Trump’s Threat of Canal Takeover

The Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal is pictured in Panama City on December 23, 2024. (AFP)
The Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal is pictured in Panama City on December 23, 2024. (AFP)

The status of the Panama Canal is non-negotiable, President Jose Raul Mulino said in a statement Monday signed alongside former leaders of the country, after Donald Trump's recent threats to reclaim the man-made waterway.

The US president-elect on Saturday had slammed what he called unfair fees for US ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand control of the waterway be returned to Washington.

Mulino dismissed Trump's comments Sunday, saying "every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent areas belongs to Panama and will continue belonging to Panama".

He reiterated Monday in a statement -- also signed by former presidents Ernesto Perez Balladares, Martin Torrijos and Mireya Moscoso -- that "the sovereignty of our country and our canal are not negotiable."

The canal "is part of our history of struggle and an irreversible conquest," read the statement, which the four politicians had signed after a meeting at the seat of the Panamanian government.

"Panamanians may think differently in many aspects, but when it comes to our canal and our sovereignty, we all unite under the same flag."

Former leader Laurentino Cortizo, who did not attend the meeting, also showed support for the statement on social media, as did ex-president Ricardo Martinelli.

The 80-kilometer (50-mile) Panama Canal carries five percent of the world's maritime trade. Its main users are the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Chile.

It was completed by the United States in 1914, and then returned to the Central American country under a 1977 deal signed by Democratic president Jimmy Carter.

Panama took full control in 1999.