Venezuelans trekking across the Darien Gap – a rugged jungle passage between Colombia and Panama – say they’re making the perilous journey because they lost hope for change following a contentious presidential election in which President Nicolás Maduro was declared winner despite vote tallies released by the opposition showing that his competitor won by a landslide.

Panama's President José Raúl Mulino says that migrants entering Panama through the treacherous Darien Gap will only be sent back to their countries if they agree to do so, potentially diminishing the impact of stricter immigration enforcement Mulino had pushed.

Panama's border police says that migration through the Darien Gap dividing Colombia and Panama has declined significantly this month since Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino took office and ordered authorities to get control of the dense jungle frontier.

Human Rights Watch says Colombia and Panama are failing to protect the hundreds of thousands of migrants who cross the Darien jungle on their way to the United States and have become increasingly exposed to robberies and sexual violence.

The number of migrants crossing Panama's dangerous, jungle-clad Darien Gap has swelled to almost 250,000 in the first seven months of 2023, surpassing the number that crossed in all of 2022.

Panama has unveiled a new effort to control illegal migration through the treacherous Darien Gap that spans its eastern border with Colombia.

Panama has launched a security operation along its shared border with Colombia to combat organized crime groups and migrant smugglers involved in record-setting migration through the perilous Darien Gap this year.

Sea turtles in Panama now have the legal right to live and have free passage in a healthy environment, a change that represents a different way of thinking about how to protect wildlife.

Despite a dissuasion campaign by the U.S. government, migrants are headed toward its southern border in growing numbers ahead of the end of pandemic-era asylum restrictions and proposed new restrictions on those seeking asylum.

Iran has seized a Panama-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, the second such capture by Tehran in recent days.

Two U.N. groups say the number of migrants crossing the dangerous Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama could soar to as many as 400,000 this year.

United States forces will assist their Colombian and Panamanian counterparts with intelligence gathering to dismantle smuggling rings operating in the dense jungle of the Darien Gap.

The United States, Panama and Colombia will launch a 60-day campaign aimed at halting illegal migration through the treacherous Darien Gap, where the flow of migrants has multiplied this year.

In a story published November 2, 2021, about creation of a Pacific marine reserve, The Associated Press misspelled the name of Costa Rica's president.

A growing number of women crossing the forbidding jungle of the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama on their route north are reporting sexual assaults, grabbing the attention of Panamanian lawmakers.

A 1-0 loss to Panama again highlighted the United States' disadvantage on the road in Central America and put pressure on the Americans to win at home against Costa Rica on Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio.

In an isolated cemetery in Panama’s Darien province, migrants who die on the most treacherous segment of their journey toward the United States are buried.

As borders open around the world after months of pandemic related lockdowns some illegal migration routes are also seeing an uptick in crossings.

Every day, at least 500 migrants from around the world sail out of the Colombian town of Necocli and across the Gulf of Uraba to start a week-long trek through the jungle into Panama.

The coronavirus upended the work of many Latin American scientists, who had to get creative to carry on with their research.

Indonesian authorities said that they seized the two vessels suspected of carrying out the illegal transfer of oil in their country's waters. (Indonesian Maritime Security Agency via AP)JAKARTA – Indonesian authorities said that they seized an Iranian tanker and Panamanian tanker suspected of carrying out the illegal transfer of oil in their country's waters Sunday. The tankers — the Iranian-flagged MT Horse and the Panamanian-flagged MT Frea — were seized in waters off Indonesia's West Kalimantan province, said Wisnu Pramadita, a spokesman for the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency. Iran’s state-owned fleet of oil tankers routinely travel turn off their Automatic Identification System trackers to try and mask where they deliver their cargo. Analysts say those ships often transfer their oil to other ships, that then sell the crude under false pretenses.

BERLIN – The two founders of a Panama-based law firm at the center of a tax haven scandal exposed by the so-called Panama Papers are being sought on international arrest warrants issued by Germany, according to media reports Tuesday. “In my opinion, they have included us to continue the discrediting attack of the European Union against Panama," he wrote. The Panama Papers include a collection of 11 million secret financial documents that illustrated how some of the world’s richest people hide their money. Both Mossack and Fonseca have Panamanian citizenship, NDR reported, and Panama does not extradite its own citizens so it is unclear whether either will ever be brought to Germany for trial. Neither Mossack nor Fonseca responded to Sueddeutsche Zeitung's requests for comment, the newspaper said.

Women and children sit idle at a migrant camp amid the new coronavirus pandemic in Lajas Blancas, Darien province, Panama, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020. In Lajas Blancas, the migrants did not wear masks or practice social distancing, but Panama's Public Security Minister Juan Pino said there have not been more than 10 infections among the migrants. Many of the migrants left their native countries years ago and cannot imagine returning worse off than they were before. In Lajas Blancas, the migrants live in a grassy field under tarps on wooden platforms packed tight between a dirt road and the brown waters of a river. In Lajas Blancas, the migrants did not wear masks or practice social distancing, but Pino said there have been no more than 10 infections among them.

A view from Sky 10 shows the 203-foot Panamanian cargo ship, named the Betty K Line, stuck in the water after it ran aground in Miami. MIAMI - A Panamanian cargo ship ran aground Thursday afternoon in Miami. The U.S. Coast Guard said the 203-foot cargo ship, named the Betty K Line, ran aground after losing propulsion while passing through Government Cut north of Fisher Island. A view from Sky 10 showed that the ship was still stuck in the water Friday morning. The Coast Guard is working to free the ship.

MIAMI – Panama seized a shipment of cocaine valued at $90 million. It was inside of a container that was in a ship that was coming from Cuba, authorities said. There were 1,517 wide bricks of cocaine hidden inside of 46 large black duffle bags with wheels. Although the incident remains under investigation, authorities suspect the cocaine was placed in the ship in Panama and not Cuba. Experts believe the cocaine that goes through Panama on its way to Europe originates from Colombia, Peru or Ecuador.

PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – A former president of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, was arrested Monday on a warrant out of Panama, the U.S. Martinelli, who served as president from 2009 to 2014, is in federal custody. Marshals Service spokesman Manny Puri says he was in custody Monday evening at a federal detention center in Miami. The former president was arrested earlier in the evening near his home in Coral Gables, Florida. Martinelli left Panama in 2015, and in 2016 Panama sent the U.S. an extradition request.