Panama and the United States launched this week a plan to deport migrants who find themselves on Panamanian soil after crossing the Darién jungle. The first flight, with 29 passengers, left for Colombia on Tuesday. This Saturday there was another, as President José Raúl Mulino confirmed on social media:
A flight to Colombia also took off on Saturday morning, carrying 30 passengers, local media outlet La Prensa reported. Mulino said on Thursday that flights to other countries such as Ecuador, the second most frequent transit route across the Darién divide, would soon be available.
As part of the agreement, the United States 6 million US dollars for deportation flights from Panama. Mulino stated publicly that only people with criminal records would be deported, while the rest of the immigrants would have the opportunity to board the planes voluntarily.
Darién is a dangerous jungle on the Colombian-Panamanian border that stretches for more than 575,000 hectares and has become a popular route for migrants from various countries trying to reach the US border.
According to the Panamanian authorities 520,000 people ventured through the jungle in 2023Two-thirds of them were Venezuelans. This year, 231,000 migrants were recorded making the crossing, of which 153,577 were from Venezuela, 14,598 from Ecuador, 14,674 from Colombia and 12,065 from China.
