The Panamanian authorities reported that the number of migrants who crossed the dangerous Darien jungle quadrupled during the first half of 2023.
Several people crossing one of the sections of the Darien jungle, between Colombia and Panama, September 2022.
The Darién jungle, the wild natural border between Panama and Colombia, was crossed by 196,370 irregular migrants in the first half of this year.
This is another unprecedented figure and almost quadruples the 49,452 in the same period of 2022, according to official Panamanian data.
El Darién is a 575,000-hectare national park in Panama. Many of the accounts of the experiences in this inhospitable jungle include deaths, rapes, assaults, suicides.
April was the month with the highest number of travelers entering Panama through the jungle on their irregular journey to North America, with 40,297, that is, 6.5 times more than the same month in 2022.
While among the nationalities of the migrants, Venezuelans lead the illegal crossings with 51%.
They are followed by Haitians and once again by Ecuadorians in the third place of migrants who cross the Darién the most.
In this first semester of 2023, 25,105 travelers who transited through the jungle were from Ecuador.
Then follow citizens of 23 African countries and other nations in the region.
Panama receives irregular travelers heading to North America at immigration stations located near its southern border with Colombia and on the northern border with Costa Rica.
There it offers them health care and food, in a unique operation on the continent that involves a dozen international organizations.
