Teddy Roosevelt once declared the Panama Canal “one of the feats to which the people of this republic will look back with the highest pride.” More than a century later, Donald Trump is threatening to take back the waterway for the same republic.

Latin American leaders on Monday rallied to Panama's defense after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened to reimpose U.S. control over the Panama Canal, a key global shipping route located in the Central American nation.

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.