Panama and Venezuela to restore consular services in each other’s countries

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama and Venezuela will restore consular services in each other’s countries in the coming days, Panama’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said late Thursday, nearly a year after Panama suspended them following questionable Venezuelan elections that reelected President Nicolás Maduro.

“Due to the imperative need to attend to the consular issues of their citizens,” the two countries agreed to reactivate their consular services, the ministry said in a statement.

The diplomatic break came July 29, 2024, when Panama pulled its diplomats from Caracas and announced it was suspending relations with Venezuela. It followed elections the day before in which the opposition declared fraud and offered evidence that Maduro had been roundly defeated.

Panama President José Raúl Mulino gave his support to the Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, who had visited Panama weeks earlier.

Venezuela suspended flights between both countries, including those by Panamanian national carrier Copa Airlines. Flights were reestablished May 22 this year.

Panama had also insisted that Venezuela agree to receive migrants from its country moving south through Panama, but there was no mention of that issue in Thursday’s statement.