More than 158,000 migrants bound for the United States, mostly Venezuelans, have crossed the Panamanian Darien jungle on the border with Colombia so far this year, breaking the record set in 2021.
According to official knowledge received by AFP, more than 158,000 people crossed the inhospitable Darien jungle in 2022, a figure that exceeds last year’s record, when 133,000 migrants crossed the Panamanian jungle, more than the total of the entire last decade.
Of those, nearly three-quarters are Venezuelans, who have risen from just over 2800 cases in 2021 to nearly 113,000 this year.
“While many Venezuelans were crossing this harmful direction in other South American countries, an increasing number are now leaving Venezuela directly,” Giuseppe Loprete, head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Panama, told AFP on Wednesday.
Due to the economic effects of the pandemic, Venezuelans “are even more vulnerable and unable to supply their fundamental needs,” so “they stay at the harmful crossings via Darién in search of greater life, security and stability,” he added. Additional.
September, with 48,000 people, is the time with the highest number of migrants who have made the adventure despite the rains. Only in the first 3 days of October were more than 7,000.
In addition, the trend has changed. While in 2021 the majority were Haitians and Cubans, in 2022 they are Venezuelans and Ecuadorians, there are also Asians and Africans.
The migratory wave has triggered all the alarms of the Central American country, which asks for help to face this phenomenon jointly with the countries of the region.
“Once again, we have an increase in migration and Panama cannot assume this duty alone. We want it and we will demand it,” Panamanian Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes said.
The 266 km jungle border between Panama and Colombia has a room for irregular migrants from South America seeking to cross Central America in the direction of the United States.
In this 575,000-hectare virgin rainforest, travelers face dangers, such as wild animals, toxic snakes, mighty rivers and groups of thieves.
If the number of migrants in the region continues to grow at the same pace, “half a million more people transiting the routes of Central America and Mexico will want urgent humanitarian assistance,” said Martha Keays, regional director of the International Federation of the Red Cross for the Americas, warned AFP.