José Raúl Mulino takes office as President of Panama

Jose Raul Mulino He was sworn in as Panama’s president for the next five years on Monday, determined to stop the persistent irregular migration through the jungle. Darien With the help of the United States.

“Panama will no longer be a transit country for illegals”Mulino said after taking the oath of office at an event at the Atlapa Convention Center on the Pacific Bay in Panama’s capital. Before many invited leaders from the region, he took the presidential oath from Dana Castaneda, the new president of the legislature.

Mulino, a 65-year-old lawyer and former security minister, had planned as one of his government’s first actions to sign a memorandum of understanding with the United States to begin closing the border to migrants from South America heading to the North American country.

Panama’s new leader believes this migrant flow, which has been going on for more than a decade but has skyrocketed in recent years, is a humanitarian crisis.intolerable“Which impacts Panama’s environment and economy and seriously violates the human rights of those who migrate, many of whom are women and children.

More than half a million people used the route last year, mostly Venezuelans, followed by Ecuadorians, Colombians and Chinese. More than 190,000 people have already done so in 2024.

The agreement with the United States, whose immigration issue becomes more relevant ahead of the November elections, is aimed at helping the North American country pay for flights to repatriate migrants from Panama who cross the Darien without documents.

Foreign Minister-designate Javier Martínez Acha indicated on Sunday that the United States would indeed cooperate with Panama’s effort, but noted that the financial amount to make that process effective has not been established. This came at the end of Mulino’s meeting with US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who was attending the inauguration.

The plan also includes Closure of trails or roads Which is used by migrants while transiting on foot through the forest.

“As a key plank on his agenda, Mulino has promised to end irregular migration through the Darien Gap,” said Michael Shifter, an associate professor at Georgetown University in Washington. “The new president seems extremely committed to this idea.”

“However, implementing this policy will not be easy; we can expect opposition from groups and interests.”he claimed. “The role of the United States in such an effort is a critical issue.”

“The United States should bear the cost of the deportation flights,” Shifter said. Mulino refers to the “repatriation” process.

Among other leaders from the region who attended the inauguration ceremony were Colombian President, Gustavo Petroand Costa Rican, rodrigo chavesCountries with which the Mulino government must work together to stop the migration crisis.

The press office of the newly elected president said that Mulino and Petro met before the inauguration and agreed to hold a meeting with the United States to resolve the immigration crisis. The date was not specified. According to that report, the Colombian president indicated that if Venezuelan migration was stopped, the problem would be minimal.

Mulino, a lawyer specializing in maritime law from Tulane University in New Orleans, won the May 5 election with more than 30% of the vote promoted by the Realizing Goals party of former President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014), who was not able to seek a second term because he was disqualified by the electoral court after a conviction against him for money laundering was confirmed. Martinelli has been granted refuge in the Nicaraguan embassy since early February.

Mulino ran for vice president without any candidate running, an unprecedented fact, which is why the political figure was absent from Monday’s swearing-in ceremony.

Other big challenges await Mulino, such as quickly promoting a solution to a water crisis that compromises the future operation of the interoceanic canal and completing the closure of a copper mine that generated Panama’s biggest protests in decades and which finally ceased operations last year, in addition to impacting an economy that will shrink in 2024, it also exposes the country to large arbitration claims. “There’s a lot of uncertainty around these issues,” Shifter said.

In this regard, Mulino said that “the financial situation is worrying: in five years they doubled the debt in operations instead of investing in the works.” It is estimated that the current debt of the Central American country is around 50,000 million dollars.

(AP)