A friend sent me a WhatsApp today that said "Went to the post office to mail something to the USA and was told they have not been accepting mail to the USA since February!! They said it was an issue with the airline and they don’t know when it will be resolved. They can receive mail from the USA but not send. Do you have any info? There’s nothing on the Embassy website about this."

 

Let me tell you the short story.  The US Postal Service are paying their bills to Copa Airlines, so Panama is receiving air mail from the USA, but Copa refuses to send mail to the USA.  The Panama Postal Service, as a Government agency, is not paying their bills to Copa Airlines, so Copa is not sending any mail from Panama to the USA.

 

Here is the longer story. Let's take you back to the pandemic when things were shut down for three quarters of the year. The Panama Government has not paid Copa Airlines, in full, for all of the packages sent to the USA, Europe, wherever.  The Panama government was to negotiate 50 packages a month to be sent to the USA, and that was to include the entire country.  It is not a first come, first served arrangement. Most packages are still sitting in Panama City in who knows what condition.  This current Cortizo government administration has never made it a priority to get the mail system functioning again properly after covid.  So if you are having troubles with Panama Post, it will not work unless the new administration that is elected May 5, chooses to pay all of the back payments to Copa Airlines. Best to look at DHL or FedEx or any number of couriers located in Panama.  Perhaps Pigeon Post.........