Panama

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama’s Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously declared unconstitutional a 20-year concession for a Canadian copper mine that had sparked weeks of protests by environmentalists and others who argued it would damage a forested coastal area and threaten water supplies.

The announcement by the nine-justice court, after four days of deliberations, set off cheers among demonstrators waiting outside and waving Panamanian flags.

PANAMA CITY, April 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday urged migrants heading to the United States to use legal routes, during a visit to Panama.

Mayorkas’s comments come as a record number of migrants have passed through the dangerous Darien Gap jungle between Colombia and Panama since the start of the year.

Some 100,000 people have taken the perilous route since Jan 1, six times the number from the same period last year, according to figures given by Panamanian migration services.

PANAMA CITY (AP) — The United States, Panama and Colombia announced Tuesday that they will launch a 60-day campaign aimed at halting illegal migration through the treacherous Darien Gap, where the flow of migrants has multiplied this year.

Details on how the governments will try to curb the flow of migrants that reached nearly 90,000 in just the first three months of this year through the dense, lawless jungle were not provided in the joint statement.

18 Mar 2023; MEMO: Panamanian authorities on Thursday evening detained President of the Brazil-Palestine Institute (IBRASPAL) Ahmed Shehada at Tocumen International Airport and withdrew his Brazilian passport, Quds Press reported.

Shehada was travelling to Colombia to participate in the second conference for the Palestinian Union in Latin America, taking place between 17 and 19 March in Barranquilla.

PANAMA CITY, March 11 (Reuters) - Panama's Maritime Authority has lifted a suspension on First Quantum Minerals' operations at the port of Punta Rincon, which the Canadian company uses to export copper concentrate from its key Cobre Panama mine, company sources said late on Friday.

Two spokespersons for Minera Panama, First Quantum's (FM.TO) Panama unit, told Reuters the suspension dated Jan. 26 had been ended, which was confirmed by a source at the Maritime Authority.

PANAMA CITY, Feb 14 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — Panamanian authorities have so far reported 10,031 irregular migrants crossing through the Darien Gap jungle in February on their way to the United States, an official communiqué stated on Monday.    

According to the report from the National Migration Service (SNM, in Spanish), until Feb 11, 2,080 of that total were children.

The SNM showed that the passage of irregular migrants would be significant in 2023, keeping in mind that the figure reached 24,634 in January.

08 Feb 2023; MEMO: Panamanian authorities are set to let Iranian naval ships sail through the Panama Canal, despite concerns expressed by the United States against it.

PANAMA CITY (AP) — An international wildlife conference moved to enact some of the most significant protection for shark species targeted in the fin trade and scores of turtles, lizards and frogs whose numbers are being decimated by the pet trade.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known by its initials as CITES, ended Friday in Panama. Along with protections for over 500 species, delegates at the United Nations wildlife conference rejected a proposal to reopen the ivory trade. An ivory ban was enacted in 1989.

PANAMA CITY, Dec 30 (Reuters) - A record wave of unauthorized migrants entered Panama this year from Colombia, according to government data provided to Reuters on Thursday, as a surge of mostly Haitians entered the Central American country in route to the United States.

Through mid-December, 126,675 unlawful migrants had entered Panama after crossing the Darien Gap, a remote stretch of jungle on the border between Panama and Colombia, according to the latest security ministry data.

PANAMA CITY, April 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The number of migrant children trying to reach the United States from Mexico has increased ninefold since the beginning of the year, UNICEF said.

The rise from 380 to 3,500 youngsters registered at reception centres at the southern side of the border has overwhelmed the facilities, the UN children’s agency said.