Panama, Colombia to set up police checkpoints in border region

Police checkpoints will be set up next year in the border region between Panama and Colombia, Panamanian Public Security Minister Jose Raul Mulino said Thursday.

The police checkpoints will be placed on the Pacific coast in the southern Darien province, about one kilometer from the border with Colombia, Mulino said, adding the internal conflict in Colombia had led to several armed invasions in this region of Panama.

"This year we can say with satisfaction that the southern region of Darien is free from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)," he said at a press conference.

Mulino explained that the armed group's withdrawal was due to the presence of the National Border Control Service, an entity with the task of safeguarding this region.

"This is a product of the distinct incursions and constant patrols, which are now permanent, between Jaque (in the Pacific) and the border with Colombia in the south of Darien," he said.

The minister said Panama was also planning on setting up and reinforcing air and naval stations in the provinces of Colon and Bocas del Toro, on the Atlantic coast.

The two countries are engaged in an intense dialog regarding this issue and are preparing for the next meeting of the Binational Border Commission, which will take place in the border region of Darien in February 2011.

Source: Xinhua