CITY OF PANAMA- The flow of migrants crossing the Darien jungle on their way to the United States will increase or decrease depending on the outcome of the elections in Venezuela, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said on Thursday.
Two-thirds of the thousands of migrants who enter Panama every month through the Darien, the inhospitable jungle bordering Colombia, are Venezuelans.
“If the situation improves (in Venezuela), it can be deduced that many fewer people will want to risk the risk of traveling through the jungle,” Mulino said at a press conference.
But “if the political situation worsens, which is another scenario, let’s prepare ourselves because I do believe that it will increase,” said Mulino, who during his electoral campaign promised to “close” Darién.
Political tension in Venezuela
Venezuelan elections will be held on Sunday, with ruler Nicolás Maduro seeking re-election against an opposition that is trying to end 25 consecutive years of the Chavista dictatorship.
His main rival is Edmundo González Urrutia, who has the support of opposition leader María Corina Machado, the favourite in the polls but disqualified by an official body from holding public office.
“We are three days away from a solution in Venezuela or a worsening of the political situation in Venezuela. I advocate a democratic solution, respectful of the popular will,” said the Panamanian president.
For Mulino, if the situation worsens in Venezuela, “in the very short term that (migration) will increase, because it would be one of Venezuela’s last chances to open up to a democratic, peaceful world.”
“Remember that Venezuela represents 66% of migrants, meaning that this country contributes a significant number of people to the Darien transit,” the president said.
In 2023, more than half a million migrants crossed that jungle, according to official figures, facing dangers such as fast-flowing rivers, wild animals and criminal gangs that rob, rape and kill undocumented immigrants.
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AP Photo/Matias Delacroix
Deportation
Panama and the United States signed an agreement on July 1st, under which Washington agrees to finance, with six million dollars, the deportation and expulsion from the Central American country of people who cross the Darien River.
The start of “deportations and expulsions” on charter and commercial flights is “imminent,” said the regional attaché of the United States Homeland Security, Marlen Piñeiro, on Tuesday.
Migration is a key issue in the US election campaign ahead of the presidential elections on 5 November.
Source: With information from AFP