This is the third chartered flight for this purpose funded by the United States, within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the current administration of José Raúl Molino, on the same day he took office, on July 1.
In a press conference at Marcos A. Gilabert International Airport northwest of the capital, Deputy Security Minister Luis Icaza said the group of Colombians were being sent back to their country under the pretext of deportation or expulsion.
For his part, the Director of the National Immigration Service, Roger Mujica, indicated that one of the deportees was serving a sentence for drug trafficking, and the rest were people with criminal records for arms and drug trafficking, murder, assault on authorities, and terrorist links, among other crimes.
Mujica also referred to the programming of upcoming operations that are being coordinated at the diplomatic level with India and Ecuador.
The repatriation flights are carried out between various government agencies, such as the Presidency of the Republic, the Security and Foreign Relations Ministries, and the Sudanese National Movement, with the support of Civil Aviation.
Official statistics indicate that in 2023, more than 520,000 people crossed the dangerous Darien jungle, on the border with Colombia, heading to the United States, 20 percent of whom were minors.
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