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 ..
It further said the decision will save the US government millions of dollars each year
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
Mulino also ruled out lowering canal tolls for US ships and refuted claims that China held any sway over the crucial waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
Mulino, a pro-business right-wing politician, faces a daunting task of mending social divisions and regaining the faith of an electorate fed up with political graft
This peculiar situation has prevented the agency from going after certain entities named in these global leaks
The accounts disclose that Cameron has declared nearly 1.1 million in earnings over the past six years