- Gold hits record high as Iran shock triggers haven support
- Ship that destroyed Baltimore bridge being towed to port
- Max wins but Red Bull supremacy challenged: Emilia Romagna GP talking points
- US inflation fight will take 'further time': senior Fed official
- UK report finds cover-up of decades-long infected blood scandal
- Trump trial resumes, closing arguments expected next week
- Ruto on first state visit by Kenyan leader to US in two decades
- African players in Europe: Superb Kudus goal in vain as City take title
- Pope to visit Belgium, Luxembourg in September
- Gold hits high as Iran shock triggers haven support
- Strikes pound Gaza as Israel voices 'duty' to expand Rafah incursion
- Russia tries playwright and director on terror charges
- Iran mourns president Raisi's death in helicopter crash
- Attack on tourists rocks fledgling Afghanistan tourism sector
- Paralympics should put disability back on global agenda, says IPC chief
- South Africa's top court strikes Zuma from ballot
- Crunch time looms for BHP's bid buy Anglo American
- Kane to face old club Spurs for first time in Seoul
- Markets rise as traders cheered by China property plan
- Black farmers in Brazil changing views on coffee production
- Iran's President Raisi declared dead in helicopter crash
- Australia police arrest 554 in domestic violence crackdown
- South Korea, Britain host AI summit with safety top of agenda
- New president Lai vows to defend Taiwan's democracy
- Forever fad: Rubik says his cube 'reminds us why we have hands'
- Trump eyes witness stand as trial draws to a close
- Ryanair annual profit jumps on higher demand, fares
- High-priced Cummins, Starc face off as IPL enters playoffs
- Iran media says President Raisi died in helicopter crash
- Dominican Republic President Abinader re-elected to 2nd term
- New Taiwan president Lai hails 'glorious' democracy
- New Caledonia separatists defy French efforts to unblock roads
- Timberwolves knock out defending champion Nuggets, Pacers oust Knicks
- Trump biopic hits Cannes Film Festival
- Iran President Raisi's helicopter found, 'no sign of life'
- Three talking points ahead of 2024 French Open
- 'Haikyu!!': Comic heroes fuel Japan Olympic volleyball manga mania
- Timberwolves rally to knock defending champion Nuggets out of NBA playoffs
- London court set to rule on Julian Assange extradition
- Business and Bollywood votes in India election
- Pope calls anti-migrant attitudes at US border 'madness'
- Mexico aims to be big economic winner from US-China tensions
- Uncertain future for thousands after deadly Brazil floods
- Schauffele makes the putt of his life for first major win
- Wirtz returns to help unbeaten Leverkusen chase history
- Search for Iran's President Raisi after helicopter goes missing
- DeChambeau's powerful putting has him excited for US Open
- Taiwan to swear in new president as China pressure grows
- Atalanta can end 61-year wait for trophy in Europa League final
- Schauffele birdies final hole to capture PGA for first major win
CMSC | -0.01% | 24.47 | $ | |
SCS | -0.29% | 13.59 | $ | |
BP | -0.04% | 37.475 | $ | |
BTI | -0.35% | 31.48 | $ | |
GSK | 0.31% | 45.12 | $ | |
RBGPF | -0.51% | 57.34 | $ | |
RYCEF | 2.62% | 5.44 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.3% | 24.242 | $ | |
AZN | 0.17% | 77.03 | $ | |
NGG | 0.25% | 73.015 | $ | |
BCC | 0.61% | 136.88 | $ | |
RELX | -0.08% | 44.035 | $ | |
JRI | 0.34% | 11.619 | $ | |
VOD | 0.1% | 9.8 | $ | |
BCE | -0.41% | 34.2 | $ | |
RIO | -0.4% | 73.32 | $ |
Panama president-elect pledges to deport migrants who cross Darien Gap
Panama will deport US-bound migrants who enter the country through the notoriously dangerous stretch of jungle known as the Darien Gap, president-elect Jose Raul Mulino said Thursday.
"In order to do away with the odyssey that is the Darien Gap ... with international aid we will begin a process of repatriation, in full compliance with the human rights of all the people there," Mulino said in a speech to the election body that formally declared him president after last Sunday's polls.
The 165-mile (265-kilometer) Darien Gap, which lies on the border with Colombia to the south, has become a key corridor for migrants heading from South America through Central America and Mexico in hopes of reaching the United States and a chance at a better life there.
They face dense jungle, treacherous terrain, wild animals and violent criminal gangs that extort, kidnap and abuse them.
In 2023, a record 520,000 people -- most of them Venezuelans -- crossed through the gap. About 120,000 of them were children.
In 2022, 62 people died on the trek. The provisional count for 2023 stands at 34.
So many people come through the Darien Gap that the Panamanian government has set up facilities and earmarked resources to aid them.
But Mulino, a conservative lawyer aged 64, pledged during the election campaign that he would shut it down.
"Those who are down there (in South America) and those who would like to come, need to know that whoever arrives here is going to be sent back to their country of origin," Mulino said Thursday.
"Our Darien is not a transit route, no sir. It is our border."
Mulino is the protege of popular former president Ricardo Martinelli, who could not run because he lost an appeal against a money-laundering conviction.
Most Panamanians believe Martinelli will wield control from behind the scenes, according to a recent poll.
Mulino's election comes as the Central American country grapples with deep-rooted corruption, a severe drought that has hobbled the economically critical Panama Canal, and a stream of US-bound migrants passing through its jungles.
While most of those crossing the Darien are fleeing an economic crisis in Venezuela, migrants from Africa and Asia also use the remote rainforest in their bids to reach the United States.
"The border of the United States, instead of being in Texas, moved to Panama," Mulino, who served as security minister during Martinelli's 2009-2014 presidency, said last month.
J.Horn--BTB