Since late last year large numbers of Cuban migrants have traveled by land through Central America to try to reach the U.S.-Mexico border where they will be paroled into the U.S.[1]
This movement of Cubans continues, and on May 9, Panama’s President Juan Carlos Varela announced he had agreed with his Mexican counterpart to fly 3,800 Cubans already stranded for weeks in Panama to the Mexico-U.S. border at the Cubans’ expense. The flights began that day and will last two to three weeks.[2]
Varela said it was a difficult decision, but necessary because Nicaragua closed its border to Cubans last year and impeded their journey north and more recently Costa Rica had done likewise. As a result, this March Panama organized flights to Mexico for 1,300 Cubans while insisting such flights would not be repeated.
On May 9 the Panamanian government took additional action to confront this problem by closing its southern border with Colombia in an effort to stop the flow. “We’ve taken the difficult decision to close the border with Colombia in the Puerto Obaldia area and in other parts of the border to prevent the trafficking of illegal immigrants,” Varela said.
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[1] Here are a few of the posts regarding Cuban migrants in Central America: Resolution of Problem of Cuban Migrants Stranded in Costa Rica (Dec. 30, 2015); Cuban Migration Developments (Jan. 21, 2016); Another Cuban Migrant Problem in Central America (April 17, 2016).
[2] Reuters, Panama Closes Border With Colombia to Stem Migrant Flow, N.Y. Times (May 9, 2016); Assoc. Press, Panama Closes Border to Cubans, Flies Others to Mexico, N.Y. Times (May 9, 2016); Panama begins more flights of Cuban migrants to Mexico, BBC News (May 9, 2016); Wyss, Cuban migrants face dangerous, grueling jungle trip as Panama clamps down, Miami Herald (May 9, 2016).
