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After weeks of lawsuits and human rights criticism, Panama on Saturday released dozens of migrants who were held for weeks in a remote camp after being deported from the United States, telling them they have 30 days to leave the Central American nation. It thrust many like Hayatullah Omagh, a 29-year-old who fled Afghanistan in 2022 after the Taliban took control, into a legal limbo, scrambling to find a path forward. We are refugees. We do not have money. We can not pay for a hotel in Panama City, we do not have relatives, Omagh told the Associated Press in an interview. I can't go back to Afghanistan under any circumstances ... It is under the control of the Taliban, and they want to kill me. How can I go back?" Authorities have said deportees will have the option of extending their stay by 60 days if they need it, but after that many like Omagh don't know what they will do. Omagh climbed off a bus in Panama City alongside 65 migrants from China, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ir
A group of families and children hailing from Uzbekistan, China, Afghanistan, Russia and more countries climbed down the stairs of an airplane in Costa Rica's capital Thursday, the first flight of deportees from other nations Costa Rica agreed to hold in detention facilities for the Trump administration while it organised the return back to their countries. The flight of 135 deportees, half of them minors, added Costa Rica to a growing list of Latin American nations to serve as a stopover for migrants as US President Donald Trump's administration seeks to step up deportations. While Costa Rica joins Panama in holding deportees from mostly Asian origin until their repatriation can be arranged or they can seek protection somewhere, Honduras on Thursday also facilitated a handoff of deportees between the US and Venezuela from a flight coming from Guantanamo Bay. The migrants arriving in Costa Rica will be bused to a rural holding facility near the Panama border, where they will be ...
Panama has informed India about the safe arrival of a group of Indians deported from the US and the Indian mission in the country is working closely with the host government to ensure their wellbeing after obtaining consular access to them. The Embassy of India in Panama, Costa Rica & Nicaragua took to X on Thursday to share the information but did not provide data on the number of Indians arriving in Panama. The group of Indians is part of a larger group of 299 migrants sent to Panama by the US government. These people arrived in the country on three flights last week after President Jose Raul Mulino agreed that Panama would become a "bridge" country for deportees. The Trump administration has pledged to deport millions of people who crossed illegally into the US. "Panamanian authorities have informed us that a group of Indians have reached Panama from the US," the Embassy of India in Panama, Nicaragua and Costa Rica posted on X. "They are safe and secure at a Hotel with all ...
Panama is detaining in a hotel nearly 300 people from various countries deported under US President Donald Trump, not allowing them to leave while waiting for international authorities to organise a return to their countries. More than 40 per cent of the migrants, authorities say, won't voluntarily return to their homeland. Migrants in the hotel rooms held messages to the windows reading Help and We are not save (sic) in our country. The migrants hailed from 10 mostly Asian countries, including Iran, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and others. The US has difficulty deporting directly to some of those countries so Panama is being used as a stopover. Costa Rica was expected to receive a similar flight of third-country deportees on Wednesday. Panama's Security Minister Frank Abrego said Tuesday the migrants are receiving medical attention and food as part of a migration agreement between Panama and the US. The Panamanian government has now agreed to serve as a ..
Panama has received the first US flight carrying deportees from other nations as the Trump administration takes Panama up on its offer to act as a stopover for expelled migrants, the Central American nation's president said Thursday. Yesterday a flight from the United States Air Force arrived with 119 people from diverse nationalities of the world, President Jos Ral Mulino said Thursday in his weekly press briefing. He said there were migrants from China, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan aboard. The president said it was the first of three planned flights that were expected to total about 360 people. It's not something massive, he said. The migrants were expected to be moved to a shelter in Panama's Darien region before being returned to their countries, Mulino said. Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Mulino in Panama. While US President Donald Trump's demands to retake control of the Panama Canal dominated the visit, Mulino also discussed Panama's efforts to
Panamanian President Jos Ral Mulino on Thursday denied the US State Department's claim that his country had reached a deal allowing US warships to transit the Panama Canal for free. Mulino said he had told US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth on Wednesday that he could neither set the fees to transit the canal nor exempt anyone from them and that he was surprised by the US State Department's statement suggesting otherwise late Wednesday. I completely reject that statement yesterday, Mulino said during his weekly press conference, adding that he had asked Panama's ambassador in Washington to dispute the State Department's statement. On Wednesday evening, the US State Department said via X that US government vessels can now transit the Panama Canal without charge fees, saving the US government millions of dollars a year. The department had no immediate comment Thursday on Mulino's remarks. The differing versions came just days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Mulino a
Panama President Jose Raul Mulino said Thursday there will be no negotiation with the United States over ownership of the Panama Canal, and he hopes US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's upcoming visit will allow them to focus on shared interests including migration and combating drug trafficking. Being the destination for the first overseas visit by the top US diplomat would have been big for Panama in any case, but Rubio comes as the emissary of US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly suggested the US retake the Panama Canal. On the day of his inauguration, Trump claimed that US ships were being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape or form, noting that "above all, China is operating the Panama Canal. He had previously said the US could demand the canal be returned. Mulino tried to downplay the tension at his weekly press conference Thursday. He spoke of wanting to clarify confusion about China's role in the canal a Hong Kong consortium manages ports a
What's in a name change, after all? The water bordered by the Southern United States, Mexico and Cuba will be critical to shipping lanes and vacationers whether it's called the Gulf of Mexico, as it has been for four centuries, or the Gulf of America, as President Donald Trump ordered this week. North America's highest mountain peak will still loom above Alaska whether it's called Mt. Denali, as ordered by former President Barack Obama in 2015, or changed back to Mt. McKinley as Trump also decreed. But Trump's territorial assertions, in line with his America First worldview, sparked a round of rethinking by mapmakers and teachers, snark on social media and sarcasm by at least one other world leader. And though Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis put the Trumpian Gulf of America on an official document and some other gulf-adjacent states were considering doing the same, it was not clear how many others would follow Trump's lead. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum joked that if Trump went ahe
US President Donald Trump's insistence Monday that he wants to have the Panama Canal back under US control fed nationalist sentiment and worry in Panama, home to the critical trade route and a country familiar with US military intervention. American ships are being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape or form, and that includes the United States Navy. And above all, China is operating the Panama Canal, Trump said Monday. In the streets of the capital, some Panamanians saw Trump's remarks as a way of applying pressure on Panama for something else he wants: better control of migration through the Darien Gap. Others recalled the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama with concern. Panama President Jos Ral Mulino responded forcefully Monday, as he did after Trump's initial statement last month that the U.S. should consider repossessing the canal, saying the canal belongs to his country of 4 million and will remain Panama's territory. Luis Barrera, a 52-year-old cab drive
Panama on Tuesday celebrated the 25th anniversary of the US handover of the Panama Canal, which president-elect Donald Trump has threatened to take back. The commemoration was made more poignant by the death on Sunday of former US President Jimmy Carter, who negotiated the 1999 handover deal. On this, such a special day ... a mix of happiness for this 25th anniversary of having the canal in Panamanian hands, and the sadness we feel for the death of former president Jimmy Carter, said Panama's president, Jos Ral Mulino. The ceremony included a moment of silence for Carter, who reached the handover deal with former Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos. Speaking at the main anniversary celebration in Panama City, Mulino said the two men had the vision and nobility to take the road of justice." Meanwhile, Trump is decrying increased fees Panama has imposed to use the waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. He has said if things don't change after he takes office in late January,
The United States is going to pay for flights and offer other help to Panama to remove migrants under an agreement signed Monday, as the Central American country's new president has vowed to shut down the treacherous Darien Gap used by people travelling north to the United States. The memorandum of understanding was signed during an official visit headed by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to Panama for the inauguration Monday of Jos Ral Mulino, the country's new president. The deal is designed to jointly reduce the number of migrants being cruelly smuggled through the Darien, usually en route to the United States," National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement Monday. "Specifically, the United States will support Panama's efforts to begin the swift, safe and humane repatriation of migrants who do not have a legal basis to remain in Panama. The efforts to send some migrants back to their homelands will help deter irregular migration in the
Pakistan, Somalia, Denmark, Greece and Panama were Thursday elected as non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for a two-year term beginning 2025. The five members were elected by a secret ballot in the UN General Assembly for a 2-year term starting on January 1, 2025, until December 31, 2026. In the two seats for African and Asia-Pacific States, Somalia got 179 votes and Pakistan 182. In the Latin American and Caribbean States, Panama got 183 votes while in the Western European and other States, Denmark got 184 votes and Greece 182. "Proud moment as Pakistan receives a resounding 182 votes and is elected to the United Nations Security Council for the term 2025-26," Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif posted on X. He said Pakistan was looking forward to working with the international community to address pressing global challenges. "We will continue to play our role in promoting peace, stability, and cooperation among nations," he said. Elected for the 8th time as a .