A court in Panama ordered the provisional detention of eight migrant Venezuelan citizens in transit who attacked a security force agent and caused damage to a migratory reception station in the Panamanian province of Darienreported this Saturday the Prosecutor’s Office.
The event took place on June 6 at the San Vicente immigration reception station when the eight migrants “caused damage to state property and also injured” an agent of the National Border Service, a statement from the Public Ministry said.
The group of Venezuelan migrants became violent “because they wanted to continue on their way, but they had to comply with the migration verification process, in addition to paying for transportation,” according to official information.
“The eight defendants also threw stones and blocks at the police units, threatening them with death, alleging that they belonged to a criminal gang in Venezuela,” assured the Public Ministry of Panama.
The Darién Regional Prosecutor’s Office obtained the precautionary measure of provisional detention for the eight migrants, who were charged with the crime against economic assets, in the modality of aggravated damages, and against freedom and personal integrity, in the modality of personal injuries.
Venezuelans lead migrants in transit this 2022
Panama is an obligatory step for tens of thousands of irregular migrants who travel to North America from all over the world, in the midst of a crisis that began years ago, has worsened over time and that this 2022 has a Venezuelan face.
Although in 2021 more than 70% of the more than 133,000 mobile migrants who arrived in Panama after crossing the dangerous Darién jungle – the natural border with Colombia – were Haitians, this 2022 the vast majority are Venezuelans.
According to figures from the National Migration Service of Panama, in the first five months of this year, 32,797 migrants in transit have entered the Darién, of which 16,720 are Venezuelans, 9,844 in May alone.
The total number of migrants in transit accumulated between January and May 2022 is more than double the 15,949 registered in the same period in 2021, when 698 were Venezuelans and 8,654 Haitians, according to official data.
Twenty countries, including the United States, Mexico and Panama, joined a declaration on Friday with some specific commitments to contain the migration crisis in the region, within the framework of the IX Summit of the Americas that culminated that day in the US city. of the Angels.
Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo warned at the summit that the irregular migrant crisis is one of “the most pressing challenges” in the Americas, attributing the phenomenon to the “lack of opportunities in their countries of origin” and called for “concrete actions » to face it.
The United States promised to increase its quota of refugees from the Americas to 20,000 by 2023 and 2024, with special priority to those from Haiti, while the rest of the nations promised to facilitate legal channels to receive immigrants.
The declaration was not signed by Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, migrant-sending countries that were not invited to the summit, nor by Bolivia or several Caribbean nations..