Panama’s new president, José Raúl Mulino, took office on Monday promising to crack down on illegal immigration, with his government quickly signing a deal with the United States to crack down on migration through the treacherous Darien Gap jungle crossing.
In his first speech as president, Mulino, 65, promised to seek international assistance to find solutions to what he described as a costly “humanitarian and environmental crisis.”
Last year, a record 520,000 migrants risked life and limb, often at the hands of human traffickers, to cross the Darien Gap, a dense jungle on Panama’s border with Colombia.
Minutes later, Mulino’s new foreign minister signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. government to “allow the closure of the passage of illegal immigrants through the Darien,” the Panamanian government said in a statement.
In the agreement, signed by US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who attended Mulino’s inauguration, the United States agreed to “cover” the costs of repatriating immigrants who enter Panama illegally.
(Produced by Diego Delgado, Felipe Teran and Anna Portella)
Source: CNN Brasil
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