More Than 2,500 Cubans Intercepted in Panama in 2012

HAVANA TIMES — Last year, Panama authorities intercepted 2,658 Cubans who entered that country illegally through the border with Colombia, said Panamanian Minister of Security Jose Raul Mulino in a press conference.

According to the official, the number of Cubans detained reached 77 percent of the total number of immigrants picked up by the State Border Service of Panama.

According to AFP, immigrants travel from Ecuador to Colombia and then enter Panama through the inhospitable Darien Gap jungle in order en route to the United States, whose government welcomes and encourages them by granting them residency if they arrive there illegally.