Panama sends 29 Colombian expatriates to the United States on the first U.S.-supported repatriation plane.
Panama’s Deputy Security Minister Luis Felipe Icaza said 33 Colombians were taken from Panama City to Medellín, Colombia.
The individuals were detained before boarding the plane, their wrists and ankles handcuffed under the watchful eyes of Panamanian immigration officials. Icaza claimed that one of the individuals was linked to the criminal group Clan del Golfo.
The relocation of these people was made possible by the signing of a cooperation agreement between the United States and Panama on July 1, the aim of which is to reduce the number of illegal immigrants passing through Panama on their way to the United States.
Last July, Panama erected barbed wire barriers along several routes in the Darién jungle, a dangerous area between Panama and Colombia, with the aim of hindering the flow of migration north.
This year, more than 230,000 people have entered Panama from Colombia through the Darién jungle. In August alone, more than 8,000 people used this route. This statistic shows a decrease of about 30% compared to the same period from January to August 2023, according to Roger Mojica, director of the Panamanian Immigration Service.
Currently, Panama only organizes deportation flights to Colombia. Mojica announced that Panama is also in the process of organizing flights to countries such as Ecuador and India, but not to Venezuela – a country struggling with economic collapse and authoritarian rule, and from which more people have fled the country than any other country in the region.
The cooperation agreement between the United States and Panama has far-reaching implications because it aims not only to reduce the number of illegal immigrants from America to the United States, but also to the entire world.
Despite Panama’s efforts to control migration, many people still attempt to cross the Darién jungle, highlighting the complexity of the global problem of migration.
