Panama’s Next Public Security Minister Prepares to Close Darién Gap Border

Panamanian President-Elect José Raúl Mulino does not take over as president until July 1, but his administration is already taking early steps to make good on what he considers an important campaign promise.

According to Frank Ábrego, Mulino’s proposed appointee to hold the position of Minister of Public Security under the new president, said in a recent statement that Mulino considers closing the notorious jungle area known as the Darién Gap “a priority” as the new government takes charge.

The Darién Gap is the mountainous jungle region in southern Panama which is the sole route for illegal migrants to make their way from Colombia and into Panama, often with the goal of proceeding further north beyond Panama and up to America’s southern border with Mexico. Traversing the Darién Gap is extremely dangerous; if the tricky terrain and wild creatures present do not serious injure or kill you, gangs, sex traffickers, and drug runners are also present in large numbers along the way.

Despite this, illegal migration is up by record levels this year. The United Nations estimates there could be some 800,000 migrants who will make it through the Gap this year, including a record 160,000 children within that count.

Incoming Public Security Minister Ábrego made his announcement about officially closing the Gap and turning back all illegal migrants who make it through, during a press conference after his appointment to his new post was revealed this week.

"We have already begun a series of studies, through international organizations, he (Mulino) has made some contacts at the diplomatic level and we are in the preparation of a plan that will be announced later," he told reporters.

If anyone could pull this off for the new president, Ábrego at least has the credentials to do the job. He was the first director of Panama’s Senafront, the country’s National Border Service, when that governmental department was first created in 2008. As part of that role, he once had the task to rid the country of Colombia guerrillas who had infiltrated the Darién Gap and is recognized as having successfully done so despite many thinking no one could make that happen.

In response to a question from the press about whether the mass pushback of illegal migrants caught on the Panama side of the Gap might require inappropriate force and additional abuse beyond what the migrants had already suffered, Ábrego said he does not believe that will happen.

"We have to start from the fact that Panama has always respected the human rights of all people,” he said. Panama is already rare among nations in that as illegals approach the border, they are provided with food and emergency health care as needed. The illegals are also scanned for biometric data for tracking and identification purposes before being sent back across the border to where they came from.