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The newspaper La Jornada
Friday, September 20, 2024, p. 24

Panama. Panama has detected an increase in Asian migrants, mainly Chinese, who are crossing the inhospitable Darien jungle on their way to the United States, President José Raúl Mulino reported yesterday.

We have decreased in terms of flow (total number of migrants through Darien), but recently citizens from Nepal and China have appeared in greater numbers.the president stressed at his weekly press conference.

He announced that his government is seeking to reach an agreement with Beijing to repatriate its citizens who arrive through Darien, the jungle located on the border with Colombia, which has become a corridor for people on the move from South America trying to reach the United States.

The number of foreigners from the Asian giant who crossed the jungle rose from 296 in the period 2010-2019 to more than 12,000 so far in 2024, according to official Panamanian figures. Likewise, more than 1,300 Nepalese have crossed in nine months. From 2010 to 2023, the figure was 12,783.

Since Mulino took office on July 1, Panama has returned more than 200 Colombian, Ecuadorian and Indian migrants to their countries of origin under an agreement with the United States, which finances the flights.

We are in the process of regularizing the travel (of deportees) to ChinaMulino said.

In 2023, more than half a million people crossed the Panamanian jungle, where they face dangers such as fast-flowing rivers, wild animals and criminal gangs that rob, rape and murder them, according to international humanitarian organizations.

So far this year, at least 241,000 migrants have passed through Darien, most of them Venezuelans.

The Panamanian government expects a significant reduction in migrants in the jungle this year compared to 2023, due to the closure of some trails and repatriation flights.