They include disembarkation operations, fast-rope insertion, crane rescue extraction, and maritime communication drills. On Monday, more than 100 special forces from Panama and the United States began training exercises aimed at defending the interoceanic canal and other strategic infrastructure in the Central American country.

Over five days, the “Panamax Alpha 2025 – Phase 1” exercise will involve air, land and sea units, including Panamanian police forces and the U.S. Southern Command’s Joint Task Force-Bravo (JTF-B).

This year’s edition of Panamax Alpha Phase 1 includes 80 Panamanian personnel from the National Aeronaval Service (Senan), the National Border Service (Senafront), and the National Police, along with 47 U.S. military personnel.

“The exercise consists of training and preparing our units in the air, land, and maritime domains for the defense of the Panama Canal… The intention is to combine the capabilities of each institution… and work as one group to address potential threats to the Canal,” said Senan Deputy Commissioner Maicol Palacio.

Phase 1 of Panamax Alpha 2025 includes embarkation and disembarkation operations, fast-rope insertion, crane rescue extraction, and maritime communication drills. The exercise includes the arrival of three helicopters from the U.S. Joint Task Force-Bravo: two UH-60 Black Hawks and one CH-47 Chinook.

Palacio explained that the aim of this first phase is “to train and prepare” Panamanian agents for the second phase of the Panamax exercise, which involves real-time execution and will take place in September.

U.S. Col. Lance Awbrey stated that the exercise is conducted every year with Panama and is “very important for improving the relationship and interoperability” between the two nations’ security forces. “Everything we do is in coordination with the Government of Panama,” he added.

Joint exercises between the U.S. and Panama — which has lacked a standing army since 1990 following the 1989 U.S. invasion — are frequent. This year, however, a memorandum of understanding signed between the U.S. Department of Defense and Panama’s Security Ministry has sparked major controversy. The agreement allows for an increased U.S. military presence in the country on a temporary and rotating basis.

Some Panamanian sectors have labeled the agreement a violation of national sovereignty and of the Neutrality Treaty that governs the Canal. President Jose Raul Mulino has rejected those claims, stating that over the past 30 years more than 20 security cooperation agreements have been signed.

The controversy has intensified because the memorandum was signed around the same time that U.S. President Donald Trump spoke about reclaiming the Panama Canal for the U.S., citing alleged Chinese influence in its administration. The Mulino administration has strongly and repeatedly rejected that claim.

The United States built and operated the Panama Canal for more than 80 years until its transfer to Panamanian control on Dec. 31, 1999, under the terms of the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties.

The 82-kilometer waterway, which links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, is governed by the Neutrality Treaty in effect since 1979, which guarantees full Panamanian sovereignty over the Canal.