Ciudad de Panama – United States deported 119 people from different nationalities to Panama as part of an agreement between the Trump administration and the Central American nation, Panaman President José Raúl Mulino said Thursday.
The first flight from the United States, transporting people from Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Vietnam, arrived on Wednesday and two more will land soon, Mulino said at a press conference. In total, the United States will send 360 people to Panama to the three flights.
Before being returned to their respective countries, those deported will be transferred to a shelter near Darien, the jungle that separates Central America from South America that innumerable migrants crosses in an attempt to reach the United States.
“Through a cooperation program with the United States government … yesterday a flight from the United States Air Force arrived with 119 people from the world’s most diverse nationalities,” Mulino said.
The United States National Security Department did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Earlier this month, after the conversations with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Mulino emphasized that sovereignty about the Panama Canal is not in debate. However, he described the possibility of repatriating more migrants.
Mulino at that meeting also announced that a memorandum of understanding signed in July with the Department of National Security of the United States could expand so that Venezuelans, Colombians and Ecuadorians can return from Darien’s dangerous gap to US cost, through a track landing in Panama.
The Deputy Minister of Security of Panaman .