EXPLAINER: Panama launches operation against smugglers in Darien Gap

NICANOR, Panama (AP) — Panama unveiled a new effort to control illegal migration through the treacherous Darien Gap that spans its eastern border with Colombia on Friday. Hundreds of thousands of migrants have risked the dangerous trek through the jungle in recent years and the...

Panama launches operation in Darien jungle targeting organized crime and migrant smugglers

NICANOR, Panama (AP) — Panama launched a security operation along its shared border with Colombia on Friday to combat criminal gangs and migrant smugglers involved in record-setting migration through the perilous Darien Gap. Security officials said the “Shield” campaign is part...

Strong magnitude 6.6 earthquake strikes in Caribbean just off border between Panama and Colombia

PANAMA CITY (AP) — A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 struck Wednesday night in the Caribbean Sea just off the Panama-Colombia border, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There was no immediate word on whether were any injuries or damage in the nearby areas, which...

Money laundering trial against former Panama President Martinelli and others begins

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli was among some 20 people who went to trial Tuesday on money laundering charges as he tries to mount a political comeback ahead of next year’s national elections. Martinelli, who had back surgery last week, was not...

‘In the hands of God’: One Venezuelan family's journey to the US

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — When Luis López was lost in Panama's Darien Gap last year with his wife, then seven months pregnant, their two young children and her grandmother, he often knelt in the mud to beg God not to abandon them. “If I was bad, let me die here, but I came with my...

Migrants crossing dense Darien jungle at Colombia-Panama border find increasingly organized route

ACANDI, Colombia (AP) — Migrants who have hiked into the dense Darien jungle covering the Colombia-Panama border while the U.S. government moved to lift pandemic-related asylum restrictions have found an increasingly organized migration route. The majority who spoke with The...

Copa Holdings: Q1 Earnings Snapshot

PANAMA CITY (AP) — PANAMA CITY (AP) — Copa Holdings SA (CPA) on Wednesday reported first-quarter net income of $121.5 million. The Panama City-based company said it had profit of $3.07 per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to $3.99 per share. ...

Migrants flow north to US border ahead of policy changes

BAJO CHIQUITO, Panama (AP) — The long wooden boats packed with migrants in orange life jackets arrived one after another, pushed down the Tuquesa river by outboard motors. By day’s end, authorities had registered some 2,000 migrants at this remote riverside outpost on the edge of the Darien...

US Navy says Iran seizes Panama-flagged oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz, second ship taken by Tehran in recent days

Helping out: How American volunteerism is changing — and why

NEW YORK (AP) — Daniela Fernandez has no trouble attracting volunteers to her group Sustainable Ocean Alliance. Last month, she presided over the Our Ocean Youth Leadership Summit in Panama, where 77 participants from 45 countries volunteered their time to develop solutions to protect the oceans....