Panama tightens entry requirements into the country, which is a migration bridge for many Cubans

The Panama government has announced a reduction in the maximum length of stay in that country for tourists (from 90 to 15 days).Beside An increase from $500 to $1,000 in the amount needed to demonstrate economic solvency At immigration entry points, measures that are part of a new policy to stop the mass arrival of migrants into the isthmus country.

Samira Gouzin, local immigration director, said: The rules “will come into effect from October 2 at the airport For this kind of people who are victims of organized crime and illegal immigrants, we will see how the crisis develops.”

In statements to Average distance scaleThe official noted that the policy changes aim, for example, to: Supposed tourists who arrive with this type of visa, and when they arrive “and you ask him what places in Panama he will visit and he says I don’t know, you already have an item that will help identify it; Where will you stay and he says I don’t know; That means they are at the expense of someone who will pick them up and take them to a hotel and take them across the border.”

“A lot of people don’t need a visa to enter Panama. They enter, they work, they don’t organize themselves, they don’t pay taxes and they leave to avoid a fine; that kind of person will have their stay reduced. You want to stay in Panama and you can only do that for 15 days,” he explained. .

Likewise, border authorities may require those who enter the country by air, sea or land to prove their financial solvency for their stay in the national territory.

Gosine warned against this “Not even suspicious travelers will be allowed to enter at first. If analysts determine that you are an irregular immigrant, or that you are being trafficked, you will be rejected immediately.”

“It’s not even sexual, it’s specific to the kind of people we’ve already identified at the airport, based on behaviour. This kind of person is trying to use our airport to go north.”

The measures aim to counter the entry of illegal immigrants who pass through the country on their way to the United States, according to Security Minister Juan Manuel Pino, who considered that this immigration is “no longer human”, but rather patriotic. A security problem in his country.

Josen confirmed that his authorities had detected people using customs posts to enter Panama, including migrants mobilized by organized crime. There will also be people with fake documents stating that they are attending executive and professional conferences and activitiesIn reality, however, it seeks to join the migratory flow heading to the southern border of the United States.

And Panama announced, last Friday, measures to confront the crisis in the country after it realized that it had reached its maximum limits to confront the wave of illegal immigrants arriving in the country after crossing the Darien Forest.

Among the main actions, Gosen said so Monitoring posts currently in place in the migrant reception cities of Pago Chiquito and Kanan Membrelo will be removedCommunities in Darien County.

Through this, he said, the Panamanian government seeks to “mitigate the health and security impact within these communities,” as well as “double monitoring and control at the ports of entry into the country.”

After Panama made it mandatory in March 2022 to obtain a transit visa for Cubans traveling to that country to stopover, huge queues in front of that country’s consulate in Havana highlighted the historical exodus that the island is witnessing and has not stopped.

accordingly, Many Cubans, especially Venezuelans, continued to use the Darien Gap, known as the most dangerous migration route in the world, to cross from Colombia into Panama. They enter Central America with the aim of reaching the northern border of Mexico and entering the United States.

Immigrants are not the only Cubans traveling to Panama. For years, thousands of mules from the island have done shopping tourism in this country, mainly visiting the Kowloon Free Zone.