President Ricardo Martinelli

President Ricardo Martinelli has announced the introduction of a program to normalize the immigration status of some 100,000 Colombians who live in Panama illegally. Martinelli stated in the Colombian city of Medellin that his government will soon launch "a rehabilitation and legalization program for all undocumented Colombians that there are in Panama." "There are many, and most of them are not part of the formal formal economy can not do the basic necessities because they are living undercover, living hidden," he said after meeting with the Mayor of Medellín, Alonso Salazar, and receiving the keys to the city. Martinelli launched his three day official visit to Colombian in Medellín yesterday. He will continue to Bogota today and then go to Cartagena, a city that will host the Latin American version of World Economic Forum (WEF) tomorrow. Illegal Colombians in Panama "have to be normalized, because that is something human and we have to remember that at one time Panama was part of Gran Colombia, this is something we have to solve in a fast and effective manner," Martinelli said. He said there could be "hundreds of thousands" of Illegal immigrants from Colombia in Panama. He remembered that in the past there was a smaller effort based on a "small census" that allowed for 25,000 Colombians to legalize their status in Panama.
The President, who took advantage of the trip to see the subway system in Medellin, said that Panama will soon open a public bidding process to build a subway system. "We have to learn from the management of this system as a model for the Metro of Panama, so that it becomes and entity that does not have a deficit, and one which produces not only a good service, but one that does not become a burden to the state," said Martinelli.

On the issue of the legalization of more than 100 thousand Colombians, Francisco Sanchez Cardenas, the President of the CEN of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), said that from the human point of view he agrees with the president's initiative, but in regard to the country's security, we must analyze who will be legalized "because even though we are very close to our Colombian brothers we have to look towards the security of the country." The other problem is that now the Colombians will compete for jobs with Panamanians, and this would mean more unemployment, said Sánchez. (El Siglo)