A Colombian migrant, with his hands and feet handcuffed, climbs a plane at the Albrook Gelabert airport in Panama City on August 20, 2024, during his deportation. (Photo by ARNULFO FRANCO / AFP)
Panama City: Panama on Tuesday deported 29 Colombians with criminal records who had entered the country through the inhospitable Darien Gap, applying for the first time a deal on migrant repatriations signed with the United States in July.
"We have the first flight of the agreement financed by the United States," Panamanian Vice Minister of Security Luis Felipe Icaza, accompanied by US officials, told reporters after the charter flight took off at dawn with the 29 deportees on their way to Bogota.
