The president of PanamaJosé Raúl Mulino, declared on Thursday that well-conducted elections in Venezuela would possibly reduce the flow of migrants through the Darién jungle, the border with Colombia that is used daily by passers-by, mostly Venezuelans, seeking to reach North America.
According to the new president of Panama, 66% of the migrants who cross the Darien jungle, on the border with Colombia, are of Venezuelan nationality. In his own words, “that’s practically the whole of Venezuela walking through there (the jungle) every day.
Migrant flow in Darien must
The Panamanian president said that if the elections in Venezuela are carried out properly and the popular will is respected, regardless of who wins, he is sure that the number of migrants crossing that border will decrease.
He explained that well-conducted elections will bring about a reduction in sanctions from the United States and other organizations and countries, which would give Venezuelans peace of mind to say ‘this will change, we will stay here, instead of risking our lives on foot in that hell that is Darien.’
It is worth noting that so far this year, more than 208,000 migrants have crossed the dangerous Darien jungle, most of them Venezuelans and Ecuadorians seeking to reach the United States or Canada in search of better living conditions, while in all of 2023 there were more than 520,000, an unprecedented figure, according to official data from Panama.
(With information from EFE)
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2024-07-23 12:00:43
