Panama

Panama sends 97 U.S. deportees to migrant camp after they refused to be repatriated

1:09am February 20, 2025

The migrants refused to be repatriated to their countries. They will be held in a migration facility near the Darien Gap along the Colombian border until third countries can be found to take them.

Nearly 300 deportees from U.S. held in Panama hotel

1:28am February 19, 2025

The migrants hailed from 10 mostly Asian countries the U.S. has difficulty deporting migrants to directly. Panama is being used as a stopover.

Three things to know about Rubio's first international trip

8:00am February 01, 2025

by Michele Kelemen

Marco Rubio heads to Latin America on his first trip as secretary of state, including Panama, where President Trump wants control of the canal.

Queue Listen Now

Why are so many Indigenous Panamanians contracting HIV — and dying of AIDS?

10:49am January 11, 2025

The government provides HIV medicines free of charge. Yet in one Indigenous territory, cases and deaths are increasing at an alarming rate.

Officials sign the Panama Canal treaties Sept. 7, 1977, at the Pan American Union in Washington, D.C. From left: President Jimmy Carter; Organization of American States Secretary-General Alejandro Orfila; and Panama's head of government Omar Torrijos.

Jimmy Carter gave Panama control of the canal. It's one of his most controversial achievements

6:57pm December 29, 2024

Handing control of the Panama Canal from the U.S. over to the Central American country was one of President Jimmy Carter's most controversial, and most overshadowed, foreign policy achievements.

Presidential candidate Jose Raul Mulino, of the Achieving Goals party, celebrates after winning on the day of the general electing in Panama City, on Sunday.

World News

Last-minute candidate José Raúl Mulino wins Panama's presidential election

1:33am May 06, 2024

by The Associated Press

José Raúl Mulino was set to become the new leader of the Central American nation as authorities unofficially called the race Sunday night after his three nearest rivals conceded.

Hundreds of people sleep in tents each day outside Bajo Chiquito, the first village that migrants encounter in Panama after making the grueling trek across the Darién jungle.

World News

A record 400K migrants have crossed the treacherous Darién jungle to reach the U.S.

5:11am October 05, 2023

by Manuel Rueda

Crossings of the dangerous Darién Gap have reached another record, as migrants seek protection or a better future in the United States but lack safer routes to get there.

Music & Culture

21 Days of Musica Latina: Panama

1:16pm October 03, 2023

by Miguel Perez

Every weekday through Hispanic Heritage Month, World Cafe dives into the music of a different country in Latin America.

Gegrand Joseph (front), a Haitian who hiked across the Darién Gap five years ago, was deported by the Trump administration and is tackling this same patch of jungle a second time to get back to the U.S.

World News

A once-remote patch of rainforest is now packed with migrants trying to reach the U.S.

10:36am November 19, 2021

by John Otis

More than 100,000 people have crossed the Darién Gap jungle from Colombia to Panama so far this year. The environmental impact and threats from cartels are many.

Queue Listen Now

A pair of men wearing masks — but neglecting social distancing guidelines — wait for public transportation in Peru's capital, Lima. The country recently urged men and women to leave their homes only on separate days, in an attempt to slow the spread o

Peru, Panama Limit Movement By Gender In Bid To Slow The Coronavirus

12:38pm April 03, 2020

by Colin Dwyer

The rules unveiled this week allow men and women to leave their homes only on separate days of the week. "We have to get fewer people on the streets every day," said Peru's president, Martín Vizcarra.