Former Panama Canal chief urges Ilya Espino to resist political pressure

Jorge Luis Quijano says he once faced lawmakers who wanted more money from the Panama Canal and lists of people to appoint or promote. His advice to incoming administrator Ilya Espino de Marotta is direct: defend the institution, even when the pressure becomes uncomfortable.

Quijano, who previously led the Canal, said he encountered demands during his tenure to raise the waterway's payments to the state. He recalled one of the clearest episodes in 2017, while the fiscal 2018 budget was being prepared. Several lawmakers, he said, told him, "You are doing very well and everything, but we need more money," and he was taken to "a little room."

The administration refused to alter a budget that had taken six months to prepare because its projections did not support higher contributions. Quijano said a budget must be detailed and backed by evidence. Otherwise, he argued, its weaknesses give politicians an opening to demand more.

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You are doing very well and everything, but we need more money.

"The Canal will contribute what it has to contribute and what it can contribute without sacrificing its reliability," he said. That means preserving funds for operations, maintenance and infrastructure investment, rather than treating the Canal like an ordinary institution for political appointments.

Espino de Marotta is due to take office on Monday, Sept. 7, for the 2026-2033 term. Quijano also pointed to water availability and the Río Indio project as major challenges, saying the project must move faster because the water situation has been allowed to reach a crisis point, even though much remains to be developed.

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The Canal will contribute what it has to contribute and what it can contribute without sacrificing its reliability.