Between 2 And 100 Cubans Expelled From Panama, According To Sources

Between 2 And 100 Cubans Expelled From Panama, According To Sources /
14ymedio, Mario Penton

14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 9 February 2017 — A Cuban couple were
deported Wednesday by the National Migration Service in Panama. Both
were detained by the authorities in Guabalá, in Panama's Chiriquí province.

According to immigration sources, the couple entered the country
"irregularly." Both were returned to Uruguay, where they legally
reside. Their intention was to reach the US border.

The government office told 14ymedio that the deportations of migrants
passing through Panama to reach the United States increased in January.

Last month 81 people were expelled, which means 20 more deportations
than in January of 2016. Among the irregular migrants were 19
Colombians. Citizens of Ecuador, China and the Dominican Republic were
also counted, with 9 immigrants expelled from each of these
countries. According to statistics, only one Cuban was deported from
Panama last month.

However, complaints from Cuban migrants who attempted to enter through
the Darien jungle claim that there have been at least one hundred
deportations of Cuban migrants on the border with Colombia.

Panama's Director of Migration confirmed to this newspaper that access
will not be allowed to Cubans, not even through the Darien Gap, a route
where humanitarian posts were set up to help migrants after the border
was closed on 9 May 2016.

Several hundred Cubans were stranded in Panama following then President
Barack Obama's elimination of the "Wet Foot/Dry Foot" policy on January
12th of this year.

About 200 migrants remain in the Caritas refuge center in Panama City,
waiting to continue their journey to the United States or to regularize
their situation in Panama.

According data from Panama Migration, in 2016 more than 27,000 irregular
migrants crossed the territory on their way to the United States.

Source: Between 2 And 100 Cubans Expelled From Panama, According To
Sources / 14ymedio, Mario Penton – Translating Cuba -
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