The inhospitable jungle of the Darién, on the border between Colombia and Panama, has ceased to serve as a passage corridor for migrants seeking the American dream, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said on Thursday. The flow of migrants crossing this jungle has dropped to extremely low levels due to fears of mass deportations ordered by the government of Republican Donald Trump. This route had previously been used by one million travelers heading to the United States over the past three years.
“We have closed an operation that began in 2016,” when migration through the Darién noticeably increased, Mulino said at a press conference. “Today, in March, we have reached 112 migrants crossing the Darién, which is a significant decrease,” he added. These 266 km-long jungles, covering 575,000 hectares, became a migration corridor for thousands of migrants, mainly Venezuelans. As a result, the Panamanian government and UN agencies set up posts to assist travelers, including many children and the elderly.
Now, “another flow is coming, the one from the north, which is beginning to rise,” Mulino noted, referring to migrants who, fearing deportation, have abandoned their plans to reach the U.S. and are instead returning southward from Mexico and other Central American countries toward South America.
However, these migrants do not need to cross the jungle to reach Colombia; instead, they travel by boat from small Caribbean ports in Panama. “We will not allow more migrants in the Darién region,” warned Mulino, who had promised to “close” this migration route during his 2024 election campaign, which led him to power.
He added that his government has established an exit route within the jungle, allowing migrants entering Panama to leave through the same pathway, heading to departure points on the Caribbean coast to return to Colombia. Due to the decline in migrant flow, Panama has begun dismantling the camps that were set up to provide assistance.
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