The historic Darién region, also known as the Darién Gap or Darién jungle, encompasses the Panamanian province of Darién, the indigenous regions of Guna Yala, Emberá-Wounaan, Guna de Madungandí and Guna de Wargandí and the districts of Chimán and Chepo in the Province of Panama, in the Republic of Panama, as well as the north of the department of Chocó (Municipalities of the Darién Subregion) in Colombia. It covers what was formerly known as the territory of Darién, in the former Republic of New Granada.
It is known worldwide for hosting the first Spanish colonial settlement on the American continent, known as Santa María La Antigua del Darién. It is also known for being a transit area for migrants who most suffer from the effects of nature (floods, bites of dangerous insects, injuries from plants, etc.) which causes everything from simple injuries to death.
According to LOS ANGELES TIMES, every day more than 2,000 people, according to official estimates, enter the Darien jungle in the hope of reaching the United States.
This has led to the accumulation of up to 8,000 people waiting to cross from Colombia to Panama, the Colombian Ombudsman's Office confirmed on Thursday. The agency, a government body for the protection of human rights, has warned that the accumulation “would overwhelm the health system, the food supply, among others.”
The chaos has once again highlighted the long road ahead for authorities in Latin America and the United States as they fight to address record levels of migration and disrupt the increasingly lucrative migrant smuggling sector.
US President Joe Biden has pressured Colombia and other Latin American countries to crack down on regional migration heading to the US southern border. Although many Latin American countries have stepped up surveillance, the jungles of the Darién Gap remain a lawless strip of the northward migratory route, largely controlled by Colombia's most powerful drug trafficking group, the Gulf Clan.
Last year, more than 500,000 people crossed the Darien Gap, many of them from Venezuela and other Latin American, African and Asian countries. From there, migrants move north through Central America and Mexico and arrive at the southern border of the United States, where authorities intercepted migrants 2.5 million times in 2023.
29 фев 2024
