‘Be Serious’, Says Panama President on Trump ‘Invasion’ Question

By Cecile Mantovani and Alexander Smith

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 22 (Reuters) – Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino responded “be serious, be serious” on Wednesday when asked in Davos whether he was concerned the U.S. would invade after President Donald Trump said he would take back the Panama Canal.

Mulino declined to answer other questions after speaking on a panel session addressing Latin America’s “faultlines” at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in the Swiss resort.

In his inauguration speech on Monday that invoked the 19th century expansionist doctrine of “Manifest Destiny,” Trump repeated his aspiration that the United States would t…