Panama Presidential Frontrunner – Vow to Close the Darien

In an announcement weeks before the May 5 Presidential election, José Raúl Mulino, Panama’s presidential frontrunner, vows to ‘close’ the Darién Gap but gave no details of how he would stop migrant flow.  The Darién Gap is the swampy jungle straddling the border with Colombia that has become an unavoidable ordeal for many US-bound migrants – but experts criticized the idea as unworkable and potentially dangerous.  Presided over by criminal groups and corrupt officials, the Darién Gap is one of the worlds most dangerous and fast-growing border crossings.  Last year, more than a half a million people, including 113,000 children, risked their lives to make the crossing, up from 24,000 in 2019.  “The border of the United States, instead of being in Texas, moved to Panama,” said José Raúl Mulino, who served as security minister under former president Ricardo Martinelli.  “We’re going to close the Darién and we’re going to repatriate all these people,” said Mulino, without saying how he would do it, though promising to respect migrants’ human rights.