By
The Associated Press
PANAMA — Two United Nations humanitarian agencies warned Thursday about the "worrying" increase in migrants who have crossed the dangerous Darien jungle so far in 2023 and noted that according to Panama, if this trend continues, this irregular flow could exceed 400,000 transits at the end of the year.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) indicated in a joint statement that more than 100,000 migrants used that route in the first months on their way to North America, a number six times greater than the number registered. in the same period of 2022, which ended with a historical record of almost 250,000 transits.
[I have been in the US for 30 years and have citizen daughters. Is there a way to adjust my status? I am blind]
"Panama is facing one of the most challenging crises of mixed movements in the last decade, as part of an unprecedented displacement across the Americas," these organizations warned.
On Tuesday, the United States, Colombia and Panama announced that they will promote a 60-day campaign aimed at stopping this massive illegal migration through the dangerous Darien jungle, in the framework of a meeting in the Panamanian capital of the US Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, and the Colombian and Panamanian heads of Foreign Affairs and Security.
The dangerous (and illegal) work of a minor in a meat plant: "They are stealing their youth"
April 12, 202304:14
Although they did not go into details about how to achieve that objective, the Panamanian Security Minister, Juan Pino, said after the meeting that the plan seeks, among other goals, to contain through police operations on the porous border the organized crime groups that amass illicit profits from that human trafficking.
He confirmed that they would involve joint actions between the three countries.
[I got divorced in 2022. Will it affect my residency? They gave me a renewal for 48 months]
According to the statistics of the National Migration Service until March, the transit through the Darien jungle was mainly Venezuelans with 30,250 nationals of that country, followed by 23,640 Haitians, 14,327 Ecuadorians and 3,855 people from China.
Among the other nationalities, there are migrants from Colombia, Peru, India, Somalia or Cameroon.
Migrants, mostly Venezuelans, cross a river during their journey through the Darien Gap from Colombia to Panama, hoping to reach the United States, on October 15, 2022. Fernando Vergara / AP
The latest monthly monitoring reports from UNHCR and IOM report that people leave their countries of origin, often for economic reasons and lack of employment.
More than half of the migrants report having fled their countries also due to general levels of insecurity or threats, as well as specific attacks against them and their families.
“The dangers and levels of violence faced by people crossing the Darién are highly worrying,” said Philippa Candler, UNHCR Cluster Office representative in Panama.
“It is urgent to work on a protection-based regional solution to respond to this unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the Americas,” she added.
[The Biden Administration pauses a program to speed up nursing homes that it never fully implemented]
For his part, Giuseppe Loprete, head of the Global Administrative Center and IOM Panama Mission, highlighted that many migrants "have lost their lives or have disappeared" in the attempt to cross the Darién jungle.
Others, he stresses, have made it through, but "now they have significant health problems."
“We are concerned that people who are considering making this journey are not aware of the dangers associated with this route,” he added.
