Venezuela migrant Naiber Zerpa holds her son Mathias Marquez as they arrive at a temporary camp after walking across the Darien Gap from Colombia, in Lajas Blancas, Panama, Friday, June 28, 2024.
Panama’s President-elect José Raúl Mulino announced on Friday that he wants an agreement with the United States on deporting migrants who cross into the world’s busiest migration route, the perilous Darien Gap, along his country’s border with Colombia.
In a visit to the jungle region, Mulino said he will discuss the possible deal with a U.S. delegation, led by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, that’s expected to attend his inauguration next week.
The 65-year-old lawyer, who will take the reins of Panama on Monday, promised during his campaign to shut down the Darien Gap, calling the daily crossings “an odyssey that does not have a reason to exist.”
More than half a million people traversed the corridor last year and some 186,000 people are estimated to have crossed so far in 2024, with most of the migrants hailing from Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and China.
Until now, Panama has helped speedily bus the migrants across its territory so they can continue their journey north — and reports of abuses, human rights violations and testimonies of deaths along the route have persisted.
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