It is this Monday that José Raul Mulino will be inaugurated president of the Republic of Panama. Elected almost two months ago, the new head of state took advantage of these weeks of transition to form his government and to appoint numerous senior civil servants to key positions in public administration.
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With our correspondent in Panama City, Grégoire Pourtier
José Raul Mulino will now face many challenges, particularly economic ones. This, even though he does not have an absolute majority in the National Assembly, where the “independents”, who entered in force during the legislative elections, promise to make their voices heard.
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Among the issues on which the new president is eagerly awaited, that of the migration crisis. Alejandro Mayorcas is at the head of the American delegation attending the inauguration of José Raul Mulino this Monday, and this is no coincidence. The Secretary of Homeland Security is in charge of the migration issue, but Panama has in recent years become the main entry point into Central America for those hoping to reach the United States illegally.
According to Mulino, the US border is no longer in Texas, but in the reception centers of his country which, in 2023, recorded 520,000 migrants having risked their lives crossing the perilous jungle of Darien. This major humanitarian crisis also poses serious security, health, environmental and economic problems, according to the Panamanian president, who is therefore calling for more support.
José Raul Mulino therefore intends to strengthen cooperation with the United States. “I hope to sign an agreement with the American government, respectful and dignified, so that together we can begin a process of repatriation of all these people who are accumulating here,” he said.
But beyond the United States, which is nearly 5,000 km from Panama, Mulino will also have to collaborate with its immediate neighbor, Colombia, where all the migrants crossing the Darien pass, and which does not necessarily have the same interests.