Panama deports 29 Colombian migrants from Darien Gap under US deal
Al Jazeera
First group of migrants has been deported under agreement on migrant repatriations signed with the US in July.
Panama has deported 29 Colombians with alleged criminal records who had entered the country through the inhospitable Darien Gap, applying for the first time a deal on migrant repatriations signed with the United States in July.
“We have the first flight of the agreement financed by the United States,” Panamanian Vice Minister of Security Luis Felipe Icaza, accompanied by US officials, told reporters on Tuesday after the charter flight took off at dawn en route to Bogota.
Before boarding the Fokker 50 aircraft, the group was lined up on the side of the runway and each was screened with metal detectors.
The 29 deportees, who had no luggage, were handcuffed and climbed the plane’s stairs slowly.
Panama President Jose Raul Mulino, who took office on July 1, had originally said the flights would be “voluntary” repatriations, but those deported on Tuesday had criminal records, officials said.
