Photo: Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images
The Ministry of Public Security of Panama reported on Wednesday that the country has registered a record of more than 200,000 undocumented immigrants that crossed from Colombia through the Darién Gap until July 5.
According to the figures, 103,028 of the citizens who crossed the jungle from the beginning of the year to date are Venezuelans; followed by Haitians with 33,553; Ecuadorians in third place with 25,925. #SeguraMigration🇵🇦 pic.twitter.com/TaFe7Ilr1H
— Ministry of Public Security of Panama (@MinSegPma) July 6, 2023
The record number multiplies by four the 49,452 undocumented immigrants who crossed this natural border with Colombia in the first half of 2022.
“The number of irregular migrants, who enter illegally through the various trails of the Darién province, from January 2023 to this Wednesday (…) registers a total of 201,167 people,” the Panamanian Ministry of Public Security reported in a statement.
The total number of immigrants who crossed the Darién jungle in 2022 was 248,284, an unprecedented number until that year and it is expected that this year it will double if the flow of arrivals from Colombia continues at this rate on his way to the United States.
The Panamanian authorities reiterated their warning of the dangers of crossing this jungle and stressed “that although migration is a universal right, it is important to carry out mobility in a regular, orderly and safe manner.”
The Darien jungle is one of the most dangerous passes in the world, in which natural threats, with swollen rivers, wild animals and the lack of drinking water due to the corpses and excrement of migrants accumulated in their water sources, Added to this are the attacks by criminals who rob, kill and rape the hundreds that cross the area daily.
Among the migrants who have crossed the Darién so far this year, more than half are Venezuelans (103,028), followed by Haitians (33,553), Ecuadorians (25,925), Chinese (8,964) and Colombians (6,484). Other numerous nationalities are Chilean, Indian or Brazilian.
In 2023, the month with the greatest flow of migrants on their journey to the United States was April, with 40,297, followed by May, with 38,962, and March with 38,099. In the first five days of July, 4,796 people crossed the Darién.
During these months, immigration measures in the United States have been changing.
Washington activated new immigration restrictions on May 11, at the end of what is known as Title 42 and Title 8 was applied in its place, the norm that has historically governed migration in this country, to which were added other measures that restrict access to request asylum on its southern border with Mexico.
Panama receives irregular travelers heading to North America at immigration stations located near its southern border with Colombia and on the northern border with Costa Rica, where it offers them healthcare and food, in a unique operation on the continent that involves a dozen of international organizations.
El Darién is a 575,000-hectare national park in Panama, declared a World Heritage Site in 1981. According to the registry of the Panamanian authorities, in 2019 22,102 migrants entered through this route, 8,594 in 2020 and in 2021 another 133,726 people, a number that continues to increase.
The unprecedented migratory flow in the American continent is due to the flight of thousands of people from economic and political crises, of violence or the effects of climate change in towns, and is linked to human trafficking, currently the most lucrative illegal business, according to international experts.
With information from EFE
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