Panama began repatriating undocumented migrants on flights financed by the United States on Tuesday.
The move comes less than two months after the country’s new president, José Raúl Mulino, took office.
Mulino’s presidential campaign included a promise to “close” the Darien Gap, a dangerous stretch of jungle that more than half a million migrants crossed last year on their way to the United States from South America.
The Biden administration said it had committed to paying for repatriation flights as part of its efforts to deter irregular migration to the United States.
A group of 29 Colombians with criminal records were the first to be deported on Tuesday.
Under an agreement signed jointly by the Panamanian foreign minister and the United States Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, Washington pledged to allocate US$6 million to help Panama to finance equipment, transportation and logistics to “expel foreigners who do not have a legal basis to remain” in the Central American country.
Immigration is a key issue in the upcoming US presidential election in November, and the flow of migrants arriving at the US border with Mexico is being closely monitored.
520,000 people crossed the Darien in 2023
The Panama deal is intended to reduce the number of people arriving at the U.S. border by stopping them further south.
The Darien Gap, an expanse of jungle that stretches between Colombia and Panama, is a natural traffic jam for those heading from South America to North America.
An estimated 520,000 people will have made the perilous journey on foot by 2023, many of whom have had to pay organised gangs who take advantage of those who undertake the journey.
President Mulino, who promised to reduce the number of migrants transiting through Panama, described the situation as “sad.”
“Most of them are from Venezuela,” he said. “They are human beings… there are families torn apart, children of 5 or 6 years old whose parents have died on the crossing. We don’t even know who they are or what their names are.”
The flow of migrants could increase
The president had previously announced that the flights would initially take migrants to Colombia, the country from which they entered Panama.
It is not yet known whether flights will be organised from Colombia to repatriate them to their countries of origin.
According to Panamanian government figures, Venezuelans make up the majority of migrants crossing the Darien Gap, followed by Colombians, Ecuadorians and Haitians.
There is widespread concern in the region that The flow of people fleeing Venezuela could increase in the coming months if the political crisis triggered by the announcement of the controversial election results is not resolved.
Several polls published before the election suggested that a large number of Venezuelans planned to emigrate if President Nicolás Maduro won.
Tensions in the oil-rich country have risen since Maduro was declared the winner by the government-controlled National Electoral Council.
The result was rejected as fraudulent by the opposition and questioned by the United States, the European Union and many Latin American countries.
Panamanian President Mulino earlier this month offered Maduro a “safe passage” so the Venezuelan leader could leave for a third country, but his offer was rejected by Maduro, who warned his Panamanian counterpart not to “mess” with Venezuela.
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