Panama and Colombia agree to common front on migrant crisis

Following a meeting between the Foreign Minister of Panama, Erika Mouynes, and the Foreign Minister and Vice President of Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramírez. Panama and Colombia agreed on Friday, August 6 to create a “common front” to establish a controlled and safe flow of migrants who transit the dangerous marine and jungle area of ​​both countries.

A   work session will be held in Colombia on August 9, to define issues such as the transit route and the daily number of people who could move.

The meeting was also attended by the Minister of Security, Juan Manuel Pino, and his counterpart from the neighboring country, Diego Andrés Molano.

 Mouynes said ,the humanitarian crisis will only be solved if it is jointly addressed with the countries involved, taking into account that there is also a component of organized crime.

Ramírez stressed that the region is going through a “migratory tragedy” and they will face the situation from a humanitarian and security point of view.

  “This transit is generating very difficult social consequences for our countries. The binational work must be extended to other countries that have to do with the migration. In the first place, the origin of this migration is in Chile, but the destination is the United States and Canada, and for that reason, we must involve them, ”she said.

Official data shows that this year some 49,000 migrants have entered Panama through the Darien jungle and another 10,000 are waiting to cross.