(QCOSTARICA) Panama President Juan Carlos Varela and Costa Rica’s President Luis Guillermo Solis confirmed Friday they started talks with other countries in the region to find ways of distributing migrants currenlty living in camps in Panama and Costa Rica.
The two leaders met in Boquete, Chiriquí province, Varela extending the invitation to Solis, who was accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Security and other government officials.
The day’s session began with discussions on the need to increase interagency coordination and operational level between the security sectors, migration and intelligence of both countries to address the major challenges of irregular migration flows and common citizen security, at the border area and at the regional level threats, such as: drug trafficking, trafficking in arms and human beings and other forms of transnational crime.
Besides Cuban migrants looking to reach the United States, both countries are faced with a growing number of Haitian migrants after Nicaragua closed its border last November, stopping migrants from moving north.
Solis warned on Friday that the migrant situation in Costa Rica and Panama could get worse after Hurrican Matthew hit Haiti.
Source Presidencia.go.cr
