- Approximately 30 Colombian citizens were sent on the plane from Marcos A. Gelabert Airport to the city of Medellin, Colombia | Photo: EFE
The first repatriation flight for migrants who crossed the Darien jungle, financed by the United States in the context of an agreement with Panama, left the capital of the Central American country on Tuesday, August 20, bound for the city of Medellin, Colombia.
Around 30 citizens, mostly young Colombians with criminal records, according to official sources, arrived handcuffed at Marcos A. Gelabert Airport, better known as the Albrook terminal, where after a documentary search they boarded the aircraft, which departed shortly after 6:00 am Panama time.
The head of the National Migration Service (SNM), Roger Mojica, said at a press conference that the migrants on this first flight financed by the United States were returned to Colombia under the guise of deportation.
Among the deported citizens is a suspected “hitman” of the Colombian Clan del Golfo, who was identified through the biometric system used by Panamanian authorities in Darien, the official added.
Panama and the United States signed an agreement on July 1 to return migrants who cross the Darien, the jungle bordering Colombia that is experiencing a crisis due to the migratory flow, which last year reached 520,000 people, an unprecedented figure.
With this program, “both those with criminal records and those who enter the country illegally, which are all those who enter through Darién, will be returned under the figure of repatriation or deportation,” said Mojica.
The agreement involves US support valued at 6 million dollars, which is why the Panamanian president said last week that the return flights of migrants are “at no cost to Panama.”
No Venezuelans for the moment
Mojica said that the government of Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino is making diplomatic arrangements and agreements with countries such as Ecuador, India and other nations to return citizens of those countries who enter Panama illegally through Darién, both those with criminal records and those without.
So far this year, more than 230,000 irregular migrants from several dozen countries around the world, although the vast majority are Venezuelan nationals, have entered Panama after crossing the jungle, according to data cited by the head of the Immigration Office.
Since Panama’s diplomatic relations with Venezuela are suspended due to the post-election crisis, there are no plans to return the nationals of the South American country identified in the migratory flow, Mojica said.
Venezuelans, “after initial attention” at the Darien immigration stations, where travelers receive food and medical attention, “are allowed to continue with the controlled flow” on their journey to North America, Mojica said.
But the regional US homeland security attaché, Marlen Piñeiro, said at the same press conference that “the majority of people” who arrive in the United States after crossing the Darien “will not qualify to enter” the North American country.
With information from EFE
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2024-08-20 14:59:32
