CITY OF PANAMA.- The elected president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, promised this Thursday to deport migrants who enter the country through the jungle of the Darienbordering Colombiaon his journey towards USA.
More than 520,000 people, mostly Venezuelans, crossed the inhospitable jungle in 2023, which has forced the Panamanian government to allocate resources to assist them. In the first quarter of the year more than 110,000 people made the crossing, according to official figures.
“To end the Darién odyssey, which has no reason to exist (…), we will begin, with international help, a repatriation process with all adherence to the human rights of all the people who are there,” Mulino said during a speech at the event in which the National Scrutiny Board formally proclaimed him as the next president for the period 2024-2029.
Mulino had announced on April 16, in a campaign walk, his intention to “close” the Darién, the jungle border of 266 km in length and 575,000 hectares in surface, which in recent years has become a corridor for the migrants from South America trying to reach the United States.
“So that those from there (in South American nations) and those who would like to come know, that here whoever arrives will return to their country of origin,” added Mulino, a lawyer, who must take over on July 1 .
“Our Darién is not a transit route, no sir, that is our border,” added Mulino, who replaced the disqualified former president Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) as a candidate, to whose popularity he owes his victory in the presidential elections.
Migration is a key issue in the United States electoral campaign, and the head of that country’s diplomacy, Antony Blinken, announced on Wednesday $578 million in aid for Latin America, at a continental conference in Guatemala, as well as sanctions for those who facilitate “irregular migration.”
Some 2.8 million migrants enter the United States irregularly each year, increasing pressure on the president and candidate for re-election in November, Democrat Joe Biden, while his rival Donald Trump’s Republicans accuse him of not do nothing about it.
Central America also faces complications from the hundreds of thousands of migrants, mostly Venezuelans, who travel across the isthmus after crossing the inhospitable Darien jungle on foot, where criminal gangs operate that assault, rape and kill defenseless travelers.
Venezuelans have been the main migrants in the region in recent years due to the social and political crisis experienced in that country due to the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro. The Chavista regime set a salary of less than 4 dollars, at the parallel exchange rate, when the basic food basket exceeds 1,000 US dollars.
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AFP
“We will revive the Canal”
In his speech, Mulino also said that he will focus on finding a solution to ensure the supply of fresh water to the Panama Canal, affected by a drought that threatens the contributions he makes to the treasury.
“Together with the Panama Canal Authority, we are going to resolve the problems inherent to the interoceanic waterway, providing Gatun Lake with the necessary amount of water so that the transit of ships is not stopped and navigation of the Canal is not affected,” he said. the president-elect.
The drought forced the number of ship transits to be reduced in 2023. Of 39 newspapers that crossed a year ago, 32 are now circulating.
“We will make it (the Canal) revive well, make it efficient and have more and more ships cross our isthmus, generate foreign currency and contribute to the national treasury as they have been doing year after year,” said Mulino.
He indicated that he will soon meet with the administrator of the Canal, Ricaurte Vásquez, to discuss plans to ensure the water supply in this 80 km route between the Pacific and the Atlantic, which moves 6% of world maritime trade.
Treaty with Mercosur
Mulino indicated that he spoke by phone with the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, about a possible Free Trade Agreement between Panama and Mercosur, the bloc made up of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
“It will give us an important economic muscle… what we can have with that southern economic bloc,” Mulino said.
In addition, he evoked the former Chilean socialist president Ricardo Lagos (2000-2006), stating that he will not promote constitutional reforms to seek re-election.
As Lagos said, “we presidents have to learn to pack our bags” and know how to retire, Mulino stated, referring to statements made by the former Chilean president in June 2013 to CNN en Español.
Source: With information from AFP
