Venezuela's Maduro rejects Panama's offer of safe passage

By Elida Moreno

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) -Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro gave a scathing response to an offer on Friday from his Panamanian counterpart, Jose Raul Mulino, to facilitate his departure to a third country to allow for a political transition.

Mulino told broadcaster CNN he would give Maduro safe passage to act as a "bridge" to a third country, in the aftermath of a July 28 election Maduro says he won but independent pollsters claim as an opposition landslide.

"If that's the contribution, the sacrifice that Panama has to make, by offering our soil so that this man and his family can leave Venezuela, Panama would do it without a doubt," Mulino said in an interview.

But Maduro accused the Panamanian president, who himself was elected to office just three months ago, of getting "carried away by the gringos," using a derogatory term for Americans.

"I will try to learn your name, President of Panama, but whoever messes with Venezuela runs aground," Maduro told reporters outside a courtroom where he filed an appeal to verify the electoral results.

Panama has also agreed a deal with the United States under which the latter will pay for flights to deport migrants who cross the country's Darien Gap, a dangerous stretch of jungle that joins to the South American continent and a route more than 200,000 have taken so far in 2024, many hoping to reach the U.S.

Last year, Venezuelans made up over 60% of some half a million migrants who crossed the Darien in search of better opportunities and security abroad.

Maduro has claimed a 51% victory in last month's election, while the political opposition maintains its candidate won by millions of votes. Venezuela's electoral authority has yet to release detailed vote tallies.

Panama is part of a group of Latin American countries that have cut diplomatic ties with Venezuela since the disputed July 28 election, including Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Peru, and Uruguay.

Mulino has called for a regional summit to discuss the elections' outcome, and told CNN on Friday that seven presidents had confirmed their attendance.

He said the summit could take place in the Dominican Republic to coincide with the inauguration of President Luis Abinader, which is scheduled for Aug. 16.

(Reporting by Elida Moreno in Panama City, Mayela Armas and Deisy Buitrago in Caracas and Ana Isabel Martinez in Mexico City; Writing by Brendan O'Boyle and Sarah Morland; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Shri Navaratnam)