José Raúl Mulino was sworn in Monday as Panama’s next president, facing pressure to slow irregular migration through the Darien Gap that connects his country with Colombia.
The 65-year-old former security minister has promised to shut down migration through the jungle-clad and largely lawless border.
More than half a million people traversed the corridor last year and more than 190,000 people have crossed so far in 2024, with most of the migrants hailing from Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and China.
“I won’t allow Panama to be an open path for thousands of people who enter our country illegally, supported by an international organization related to drug trafficking and human trafficking,” Mulino said Monday, after he was sworn in. “I understand that there are deep-rooted reasons for migration, but each country has to resolve its problems.”
Shortly after Mulino’s inauguration, the Panamanian government released a statement saying that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had signed a memorandum of understanding Monday with Panama’s Foreign Affairs Minister Javier Martínez-Acha in which the U.S. government committed to covering the cost of repatriation of migrants who enter Panama illegally through the Darien. (AP)
