Panama reinforced maritime surveillance on Thursday, after closing some passages in the Darién jungle to control the arrival of migrants traveling to the United States, a measure that has caused friction with Colombia. The Minister of Security, Frank Ábrego, “ordered the deployment of patrol boats” from the coast guard and border police “on the Caribbean and Pacific coasts,” his ministry reported on its X network account.
The instruction also establishes “the detention and delivery to Colombian police or immigration authorities of any person traveling by boat with irregular migrants and trying to enter Panamanian jurisdictional areas,” the ministry said in another tweet. These orders were given following the decision of the new Panamanian president, José Raúl Mulino, to “close at least five crossings on the border with Colombia,” the ministry added.
On Wednesday, the Panamanian government confirmed the closure of several irregular passages used by migrants to cross the inhospitable Darién jungle, bordering Colombia. According to the Panamanian government, these closures aim to make migrants travel in a controlled manner through a “humanitarian passage” that leads them to a shelter, where they are attended to by Panamanian officials and various international organizations.
However, Colombian President Gustavo Petro criticized the measure and assured that “barbed wire in the jungle” will only bring “drowned people in the sea.” “Migration is curbed by removing economic blockades and improving the economy of the south,” Petro added on his X account.
The “closure of Darién” will force migrants “to seek other more dangerous routes to continue their inevitable exodus,” former Colombian president Ernesto Samper (1994-1998) also criticized. This jungle has become a corridor for thousands of migrants trying to reach the United States from South America.
In 2023, more than half a million people crossed this route, despite the great dangers it entails, such as raging rivers, wild animals, and criminal groups. The majority are Venezuelans, but Haitian, Ecuadorian, Colombian, and Chinese migrants also stand out.
Mulino has promised to repatriate migrants who enter the country through the jungle. For this, he signed an agreement with the United States through which Washington will contribute six million dollars for the payment of repatriation flights and other activities. The United States, which announced in June the deployment of a unit specialized in combating human trafficking to Darién, is moving towards elections in November in which migration is one of the main issues.
