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Country to vote on Sunday after supreme court allows leading presidential contender to remain in the racePanama’s supreme court has rejected a move to disqualify the candidacy of the leading presidential contender, José Raúl Mulino, two days before the country’s election on Sunday.The ruling early on Friday removes an element of uncertainty from the vote, but the country remains racked by social discontent, against...

In announcement three weeks before election, José Raúl Mulino gave no details of how he would stop migrant flowPanama’s presidential frontrunner has vowed to “close” the Darién Gap, the swampy jungle straddling the border with Colombia that has become an unavoidable ordeal for many US-bound migrants – but experts criticised the idea as unworkable and potentially dangerous.Presided over by criminal groups and corrupt officials,...

Law firm’s founders among those to face money laundering charges after leak of 11.5m files in 2016A criminal trial of 27 employees working for the law firm at the heart of the Panama Papers on money laundering charges has commenced in a Panamanian court.Eight years ago, leaked financial records from the law firm Mossack Fonseca sparked international outrage at the use of offshore companies...

Loss of Doctors Without Borders services will probably leave void in potentially lifesaving services for migrantsPanama has ordered Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to stop treating people who have crossed the Darién Gap, one of the world’s most dangerous and fastest-growing border crossings.MSF is one of the largest medical NGOs operating on the dangerous jungle frontier which connects Colombia to Panama and the loss of...

Attempt to stop movement through perilous rainforest leaves people stuck in two remote Caribbean townsMigration towards the US through a perilous but increasingly well-trodden rainforest border crossing has ground to a halt after the Colombian navy arrested two boat captains for trafficking migrants.But the attempt to stop movement through the Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama has left more than 3,000 people stranded in...

More than half a million people made treacherous, weeklong trek in 2023, facing horrors including mass rapes by armed banditsA sevenfold increase in sexual attacks against people crossing the Darién Gap is compounding the misery for people trekking one of the world’s most dangerous and underreported border crossings, said Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).Complete impunity for armed gangs in the lawless stretch of jungle that...