Mulino Hopes Another Country will Take in Deported Venezuelan Migrants

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino expressed his hope on Thursday, October 24, that a third country would take in deported Venezuelan migrants who arrive in the country after crossing the Darien Gap.

“Hopefully it will happen,” Mulino said at his weekly press conference, after recalling that relations between Panama and Venezuela have been suspended since the end of July, meaning that Venezuelans cannot be returned under an agreement with the United States, through which nearly 800 irregular travelers of various nationalities have been repatriated by air, having arrived in the Central American country after crossing the jungle bordering Colombia.

Finding a third country to take in irregular migrants from Venezuela would be a “solution to the crisis of Venezuelans crossing through Panama” on their way to North America, the Panamanian leader added.

Marlen Piñeiro, a US regional internal security officer said on Wednesday in the Panamanian capital that “in the next few days, weeks at the latest,” Panama could begin the air deportation of Venezuelans who cross the jungle to third countries, as part of the agreement between Panama and the United States that establishes that the U.S. government will cover the costs of the operation.

Asked if she could reveal which countries she was holding talks with, she said “not yet,” although she acknowledged that she had “spoken with several.”

Of the more than 263,000 migrants who crossed the Darien River until last September, 67% were Venezuelan, while in 2023, when the historical record of more than 520,000 people crossing the jungle was reached, 63% also came from Venezuela.