Panama City, Mar 12 (EFE).– The Panamanian government finished Saturday the transport to Mexico of 1,301 Cubans who had been stranded while waiting to find a way to continue their journey to the United States, an official told EFE.

Almost 300 Cubans left Saturday on a commercial flight from Tocumen International Airport in the capital, thus wrapping up an operation described by the Panamanian government as “successful.”

The operation, which on March 8 closed down its sale of airline tickets, leaves behind other Cubans who arrived too late and now must comply with Panama’s immigration laws, the Cabinet said.

Panamanian Vice President and Foreign Minister Isabel De Saint Malo de Alvarado asked migrants last Monday to avoid trying to travel through Central America until Nicaragua again opens its borders, because the accord reached with Mexico only benefits Cubans left trapped in Panama when Costa Rica stopped issuing visas.

“This has been a successful operation, which included organizing nine flights in a period of three weeks and which was made possible thanks to exceptional measures of support and collaboration on the part of Mexico, Panama and governments of the Latin American region for humanitarian reasons and from a viewpoint of shared responsibility,” the Foreign Minister said Friday in a communique.

Panama and Costa Rica agreed with Mexico to fly the Cubans directly to different Mexican cities, so that from there they could cross over into the United States.

Meanwhile two new groups of Cuban migrants landed Saturday at the Mexican towns of Nuevo Laredo and Ciudad Juarez on the U.S border, so that now almost 6,000 islanders have entered the country following the accord reached with Central American governments.

“Up to now, Mexico has received 5,911 foreigners of Cuban origin, to whom the National Migration Institute (INM) has issued free provisional visitor’s documents for humanitarian reasons,” the INM said in a bulletin.

The accord between Panama and Mexico took effect last Feb. 23 when the first flight landed in Ciudad Juarez with Cubans left stranded in the country last year after Nicaragua and Costa Rica closed their borders.

In Costa Rica, journalist Eillyn Jimenez of national newspaper La Nacion reported that immigration officials expect the last humanitarian flight to depart on March 15.

The government of Costa Rica announced that it would seek donations to cover the travel expenses of about 50 Cuban migrants who do not have any funds.

Cubans trekking through Central America have become more numerous over the past few years and increased further with the renewal of diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba, out of fear that the 1961 Cuban Adjustment Act will be eliminated, and with it the chance for any islander who sets foot on U.S. soil to obtain residency.

The Cuban immigrant crisis exploded last Nov. 15 when Nicaragua, a political ally of Cuba, decided to close its border, claiming risks to its security and sovereignty, which caused almost 8,000 Cubans to accumulate in Costa Rica after arriving from Ecuador by land.

The Costa Rican government stopped issuing visas to the islanders in mid-December and said it was no longer able to admit any more people, with the result that over 1,000 Cubans were left stranded in Panama. EFE