The foreign ministers of Colombia and Panama visited the jungle border of Darién, a route taken by thousands of migrants, on Sunday, ahead of a meeting with the United States to discuss irregular migration.
Colombian Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo and Panamanian Minister Javier Martínez-Acha “toured the border area of Capurganá and Necocli” as a “preliminary meeting before the trilateral working session” they will hold on Monday with the United States to analyze the migration issue, according to Panama’s foreign ministry on the social network X.
The ministers’ meeting with U.S. representatives will take place in Cartagena, on the Colombian Caribbean coast. Darién is a 575,000-hectare jungle that has become a route for thousands of migrants heading to the United States, despite numerous natural risks, as well as the danger of being assaulted, raped, or murdered by criminal gangs.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced on Sunday that its chief, Alejandro Mayorkas, will meet on Monday with the foreign ministers of Panama and Colombia to discuss irregular migration and organized crime affecting the three countries.
More than 230,000 migrants have made this journey so far this year, and in 2023, over 520,000 crossed, according to official Panamanian figures.
This Sunday, Panama’s Ministry of Security detailed that in 2023, 153,226 Venezuelan migrants, 14,659 Colombians, 14,569 Ecuadorians, 12,067 Chinese citizens, 11,224 Haitians, and 25,330 migrants of other nationalities passed through the Darién.
Irregular migration has been one of the main topics of the U.S. electoral campaign, with a new president set to be elected in November. Upon taking office on July 1st, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino signed a migration agreement with the United States, under which Washington committed to funding the deportation of migrants who cross the Darién with six million dollars.
Panama applied the agreement with Washington for the first time last Tuesday, deporting 29 Colombians with criminal records who also entered the country through the Darién on a charter flight. Last Saturday, Panama deported another 30 Colombian migrants under the same agreement.
