JOSÉ RAÚL MULINO QUINTERO, President of Panama, said his country faces the immense problem of illegal migration due to its strategic geographic location.  This mass movement through the Darien Gap, spearheaded by criminal organizations, is used as passage by hundreds of thousands of migrants — women, children, and elderly people — fleeing serious economic, political and social problems in search of the so-called American dream.  Expressing understanding of the “hard decision” people take to migrate and escape the misery and oppression they experience in their place of origin, he said “the vast majority of people want to live, develop, and thrive in the land where they were born”.  The causes are known but cannot be addressed alone, especially given the many social and financial problems Panama faces.  That is why, he continued, illegal migration through his country — being a huge global problem — should be at the core of discussions at the United Nations.

“We are proud to be a country that connects world trade, but we will not allow ourselves to be used for the transit of illegal immigrants with the corresponding social, human and environmental costs that this entails for our territory,” he said, adding that Panama does not only pay an expensive environmental price for this illegal human flow, but its biodiversity is also severely damaged.  Contextualizing the magnitude of the situation, he contrasted the 2023 migration figure of over 500,000 persons — 12 per cent of Panama’s population — through the Darien Gap to the population of the United States and Italy, a fellow victim of illegal migration, revealing that both countries would experience the influx of 40 million and 7 million illegal migrants into their territories at that rate.  He lamented the lack of international support on this issue, imploring Member States to appreciate its enormity and offer much needed “concrete cooperation”.

He highlighted political instability as one of the causes of mass migration, the consequences of which is the desertion of citizens — Venezuela being a “concrete example”, with almost 8 million Venezuelans having fled the country.  “The latest events in Venezuela have further undermined the country's tainted institutionality”, he stressed, adding that “the current regime has lost the livelihood of its most fervent defenders in the region or, at best, has received the fragile support of silence”, and will neither leave power nor recognize its defeat.  He therefore called on “the relevant organizations to act forcefully against manifestly undemocratic attitudes and behaviours”.

He expressed displeasure over Panama being placed on a list together with “tyrannies that have committed the worst atrocities”, objecting to such labelling.  Highlighting the actions his Government has taken, especially in democratic and financial reforms, compliance with international standards of transparency and prevention of money laundering and other organized crime crimes, he insisted that “Panama cannot and should not allow this affront, especially after all the efforts made.” “It is paradoxical, but the nations that approve the inclusion of Panama in these lists use our canal, participate in public tenders, profit from paid consultancies and lobby in favor of their companies to win contracts in our country,” he continued, announcing that companies from such countries that endorse and accompany those lists would be prohibited from participating in international tenders and would not have Panama’s vote in international organizations.  He vowed to continue the fight against discrimination of his country.