Washington is negotiating with authorities and airlines to carry out deportations, says security attaché

Afp

The newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, July 24, 2024, p. 28

Panama. The beginning of the deportations and expulsions on charter and commercial flights of migrants entering Panama through the inhospitable Darien jungle is imminenta US official warned yesterday.

This jungle on the border between Colombia and Panama has become a corridor for thousands of migrants from South America trying to reach the United States, a country that will hold elections in November with migration as a key issue.

We have already visited all the airports, Darien, the places where we are going to have the people. We have also spoken with the airlines and the contractors, and we are in the final details.said the regional attaché of the United States Homeland Security, Marlen Piñeiro.

At this moment we are still negotiating (with Panama), but the focus of this program is deportations and expulsions.the official explained at a press conference in the Panamanian capital.

I don’t want to give a date yet, but I do think that it is imminent that we are going to start. with deportations, he added.

Piñeiro pointed out that the United States is working very closely (with Panama) and very intensively to establish charter and commercial flights; there will be large numbers.

He added that the details are being worked out, but these measures Yes, they will have an impact in migratory flows.

Panama and the United States signed an agreement on July 1st under which Washington will contribute 6 million dollars to finance this program.

In 2023, more than half a million people, most of them Venezuelans, crossed this jungle plagued by dangers such as fast-flowing rivers, wild animals and criminal groups that rob, rape and murder migrants.

However, last Thursday the president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, ruled out repatriating by force to the undocumented, qualifying what he had said before.

People do not want to come and stay in Panama; people want to go to the United States, and if that issue becomes a problem for us, which can happen to a greater extent, then they will go there.Mulino said.

In recent weeks, Panamanian authorities have closed several trails used by migrants in the jungle, so that they can use the steps that lead to immigration and customs posts.

At these posts there are also officials from international organizations who assist migrants before they board buses to continue their journey to Costa Rica.

We want the numbers (of migrants) to decrease to the point that the jungle returns to being a jungle, a national park.Piñeiro said.