Panama City (Associated Press):
Migrant traffic through the Darien Valley separating Colombia from Panama has dropped significantly this month since Panamanian President José Raul Mulino took office and ordered authorities to control the jungle border area, the country’s border police said Wednesday.
Still, migration through Darien remains roughly the same as in the record-breaking 2023 year, when more than 500,000 migrants, more than half of them Venezuelans, made the perilous journey.
The National Border Patrol reported Wednesday that 11,363 migrants have crossed the border since July 1, about 9,000 fewer than the same period last year.
The agency’s director, Jorge Gobert, attributed the drop to the installation of about three miles (5 kilometers) of barbed wire along five corridors to funnel migrants into “humanitarian corridors”.
He also said the government had announced a more aggressive approach and plans to forcibly return migrants to their home countries, as well as heavy rains, could have affected the numbers of people crossing the border.
President Mulino came into office promising to stop illegal immigration through the Darien Gap, and the U.S. government has agreed to pay for deportation flights for immigrants deemed inadmissible, but the flights have yet to depart.
More than 212,000 migrants have crossed the Darien River into Panama so far this year, including Venezuelans as well as migrants from Ecuador, Colombia and China.
It would be a major shift in Panama’s aggressive efforts to stop and deport migrants.
Under the outgoing administration, Panama has sought to help migrants cross the country quickly and orderly, with migrants typically emerging from the jungle, registered with authorities and transported across the country to the Costa Rican border.
The increased enforcement in Panama could reduce the number of migrants reaching the US border, at least until new routes are established, but it could also force migrants to take more dangerous routes, making things more convenient for smugglers.
