Military and Police forces of Colombia and Panama will conduct operations on water routes and tributaries used by specialized drug trafficking organizations.
The operations against the illicit exploitation of mining deposits, which is degrading the natural resources on the Darien gap, will in the same way be strengthened.
Irregular migration in the Darien gap region, mainly of foreign citizens, has demanded the coordination of the Military Forces and the governments of Colombia and Panama to combat transnational organized crime.
This was stated by the Deputy Minister for Defense and Security Policies of the Ministry of Defense, Alberto Lara Lozada, during the signing of the 2023 Binational Annual Operational Plan with Panama initiated today by the parties.
“Given this panorama, I want to highlight that the coordinated operations conducted by the military Forces and the Police of both countries are a priority, the joint tasks agreed from a strategic and tactical level, especially in those areas of our common border, whose geographical conditions favor the criminal activities.”
Deputy Minister Lara in the same way highlighted that, for this Government, it is a priority to address the situation of migrant smuggling from a point of view of the State and for this purpose it is analyzing to implement a policy that ends the criminal business of illegal armed groups and regulates the transit of migrants.
“The impact that transnational organized crime has in our region, and particularly on binational security, demands dynamic cooperation mechanisms with a high degree of adaptation, with preventive campaigns, regulation and control centers, even the promotion of a more comprehensive migration policy and the co-responsibility of the two governments,” explained the Deputy Minister.
Another of the commitments within the plan is the inter-institutional work against drug trafficking, including operations on water routes and tributaries used by organizations specialized in drug trafficking and operations against the illicit exploitation of mining deposits, one of the crimes with the greatest impact on the degradation of natural resources in the Darien region.
The Operations Plan is complemented by confidence-building mechanisms and the exchange of information to, in the same way, promote coordinated operations, in particular the Binational Border Group COMBIFRON and the Meetings of Military and Police Border Commanders, which was highlighted by the Deputy Minister of Public Security of Panama, Ivor Axel Pittí: “this signing demonstrates what we have been doing for many years, working as brother countries for a common good.”
Finally, the Ministry of National Defense reiterated Colombia's commitment to improve, as established in the Operations Plan, the security indicators on the common border and the protection of life in both countries.
Source: Defense Sector Communications Office - Ministry of National Defense
