Panama-Venezuela flights cleared to restart after nearly a year
PANAMA CITY, May 22 (Reuters) - Flights between Panama and Venezuela have been cleared to restart, Panama's aviation authority said on Thursday, nearly a year after they were suspended due to a diplomatic standoff between the two nations.
Panama President Jose Raul Mulino had refused to recognize Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro's win in last July's elections, leading Venezuela to pull its diplomatic representation from the country and pause air travel between the two nations.
The United States and other Western nations have widely condemned the Venezuelan vote results, after which opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez was forced to leave the country.
Mulino told a press conference earlier on Thursday that it was in Panama's best interest to restart flights with Venezuela.
Neither he nor the aviation authority specified when flights would restart.
Copa Holdings (CPA.N), opens new tab, Panama's flagship airline, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Panama also needs an agreement with Venezuela to be able to send back migrants rejected from the U.S., Mulino said.
"It's not a massive number of people, but most are Venezuelan," Mulino added.
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