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The migratory crisis that Colombia and Panama are experiencing is becoming more acute as the days go by. One of the most dangerous routes faced by thousands of migrants of 50 nationalities is surviving the difficult journey through the Panamanian jungle of Darién.
So far this year, 160,000 migrants have passed through it, a figure that far exceeds that registered in 2021. All of them seek to reach the United States. Margarida Loureiro, UNHCR’s deputy representative in Panama, has visited the area in recent months and has confirmed that the situation is extremely serious.
“There are people who arrive wounded, traumatized and desperate. We went from 800 people to 3,000 people a day”, explains Loureiro, adding that the situation of these migrants is very worrying. “One in ten people stated that they were traveling with female survivors of sexual violence, or with pregnant and lactating women. Up to 16% said that there were very sick people in their group,” adds the UNHCR spokeswoman.
For Loureiro, the problem also lies in the fact that this group of migrants begins this journey without adequate information about what it means to enter the bowels of a jungle like the Darién. This makes them easy prey for human trafficking groups.
“When they get here, they usually tell us that if they had known what they were going to go through, they wouldn’t have crossed. In addition, many fall into the trafficking networks”, denounces Loureiro.
According to the latest NGO reports, the majority group of migrants are Venezuelans, followed by Haitians and Cubans. Given this scenario, Colombia sent its new Director of Migration to the Darien, while Panama requests international support.
