Panam predicts new record of migrants crossing Darin jungle towards the US – International

2023-07-22 02:57:00

Panamanian authorities announced this Friday (21) that the number of migrants en route to the United States, crossing the dangerous Darin jungle, on the border with Colombia, is about to pulverize the records for the entire year of 2022.

“Today we add up to 227,000 migrants who passed through our territory, this month (July) we are going to surpass the historic mark of 2022, when there were 248,000 migrants who passed through Darin”, Panamanian Security Minister Juan Manuel Pino told journalists.

The Darin jungle has become, despite the enormous dangers, a route for migration seeking to reach the United States through Central America from South America.

According to statistics from the National Migration Service of Panama, more than 248,000 people made this crossing in 2022, a record number.

Now, this historic record, according to Pino, is on the verge of being surpassed, with more than five months to go before the end of the year.

At that rate, “we estimate a number of 400,000” migrants will have passed through the Darin in 2023, Pino said.

“These people, in ninety-nine percent of cases, want to head north, that’s their objective,” added the official.

According to official data, as of June 30, more than 100,000 Venezuelans have crossed the Darin this year, almost half of the total number of people who have taken that route.

Also noteworthy are the numbers of Haitians (about 33,000), Ecuadorians (over 25,000) and Chinese (over 8,500). Of the total, one-fifth were minors.

Migrants cross the natural border of the Darin, which is 266 km long and covers an area of ​​575,000 hectares, despite dangers such as wild animals and mighty rivers.

In addition, they face criminal organizations that rob them or demand payment to guide them across.

Panamanian authorities suspect that migrant trafficking through the Darin is controlled by the “Gulf Clan”, a Colombian drug cartel.

Over the past year, several armed clashes have been reported in the Panamanian jungle between criminal gangs seeking to extort migrants and the police.