Up to 650 migrants now allowed to cross the Panama-Colombia border daily

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Panama and Colombia on Wednesday (11) announced the establishment of a daily quota of 650 migrants until the end of August, and another of 500 per day as of September, that will be permitted to cross the dangerous Darien border.

“The quotas established with Colombia are intended to receive 650 people per day until the end of this month, for as long as the 15,000 migrants crisis in Necoclí (Colombia) continues,” said Panama’s director of Migration Samira Gozaine.

Gozaine added that as of September 1, the daily quota will be reduced to 500 migrants per day “from Tuesday to Saturday.”

This agreement with Colombia “is very positive, because Panama was receiving between 1,500 to 2,000 migrants per day, there was a week when we received 10,000 migrants, including on Sunday,” explained the director of the Panamanian Migration office.

So far, some 55,000 people traveling to North America have entered Panama in 2021, representing 33% of all migrants entering the country since 2013, Gozaine said Wednesday.

According to official Panamanian data released last Friday, at least 49,000 migrants, mostly of Haitian and Cuban nationality, have entered Panama on their way to North America.

Panama and Colombia last Friday agreed to implement a system for the controlled flow of migrants traveling en masse to North America and agreed on a quota last Monday, the number of which was disclosed today following an online meeting with the foreign ministers of Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador and Mexico, and representatives of Peru, the United States and Canada.

Panama’s Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes explained that “the numbers established” with Colombia “will be approved by the Costa Rican side,” in reference to the northern Panamanian border.

In 2016, the crowding of thousands of Cubans on the border between Panama and Costa Rica triggered a humanitarian crisis and led the two countries to establish a controlled flow plan, which on the Panamanian side includes health care, food and biometric records.

A FIRST STEP IN SEARCH OF A COMPREHENSIVE REGIONAL SOLUTION

Wednesday’s ministerial meeting, convened with a “true commitment to seek a comprehensive and timely solution, is a first exercise, an important first step,” Mouynes said in a press conference after the online meeting.

“As part of the conclusions, a working team was agreed to be set up along several lines, specifically the orientaton of the Migration service, concrete proposals were presented for each of the issues that were addressed,” he detailed.

Mounyes emphasized that “we cannot stop the migration phenomenon, but we can guarantee that there will be a safe, controlled passage,” and with a “willingness of all” countries involved “to jointly assist them.”

With respect to the establishment of a potential maritime or other route to prevent migrants from crossing the Darien jungle, the Foreign Minister said that “it is one of the goals being sought,” and that “the teams have now agreed to consider everything: from where they depart to where they will be received.”

The Panamanian Foreign Minister added that “for the first time, and now that we will know when and how many are arriving, we may implement new mechanisms and even search for them and receive them.”

The Darien gap, used every year by thousands of migrants from all over the world on their way to North America, is considered one of the most dangerous routes in the world, both because of its natural features as well as the presence of criminal groups.