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 ), 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.