The United States announce to impose visas on Venezuelans for entry into that country, Panama faces a new challenge: to return Venezuelans who voluntarily decide to return to their country and exercise control over those who decide to continue their way north.
Until Friday, 202,707 irregular migrants had passed through the Panamanian borders; of them, approximately 80% is Venezuelan. An unprecedented figure that exceeded the number of people who crossed in 2021, when more than 130,000 were counted.
However, in the last three days the number of irregulars who walked through the trails of the Darienite jungle has decreased, 2,665 on Tuesday and 1,522 on Wednesday and on Thursday 1,213, which means that the immigration requirements have discouraged the intention, mainly of Venezuelans
The Migration authorities, together with Venezuela’s mission in Panama, have coordinated charter flights for those who wish to voluntarily return to their country, costs assumed by the Embassy of Venezuela in Panama. According to the figures described by Foreign Minister Janaina Tewaney, 435 Venezuelans have left this type of flight, and another 200 will be added between Friday and Saturday.
In this regard, he added that he articulates cooperation with the United States and neighboring countries to take joint action and solve the problem. “An issue that involves a lot of diplomacy, and the duty is to articulate those conversations,” he said.
However, the number of migrants returning to their country is far from the statistics reflected by the authorities about the irregulars who have crossed our borders and who continue to reach the United States. According to the premier of Rxteriores Relations, migrants do not intend to remain in Panama, although with the announcement of the United States it is difficult to predict the plans of those who seek a better future and decide to migrate to neighboring to neighboring countries as an alternative to their American dream.
In her first formal intervention, after being appointed by President Laurentino Cortizo a couple of weeks
The problem is complex, multidimensional, as described by the chancellor. As a way to address the issue in conjunction with neighboring countries, next week he will hold meetings with his peers from Costa Rica and Colombia at the meeting of the mechanism of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), which will take place in Argentina.
These meetings will serve to “establish a coordination agenda and a regional strategy in conjunction with concrete actions to resolve the situation of Migration, Samira Gozaine, and other officials.
The strategy that the chancellor paints, as a palliative to control the migratory flow, is to “raise the voice as a region.” In this sense, he added that next week’s summit will be crucial, “which reflects how in our country, in addition to caring for migrants, we are caring for humanitarianly.”
The passage of irregular migrants through the Darien jungle also leads to a security problem that has occupied border uniformed personnel, because members of organized crime are identified who open new routes. “The Senafront has commented that there were routes that a group was planning to open, and it has been captured,” the chancellor acknowledged. It is a constant struggle, because having anticipated the movements of criminal groups does not prevent them from visualizing new routes in the future, as has happened in the past.