PANAMA – The skeleton had been on the path for months at least. The skull was twisted to one side, ribs pressed into the ground and a femur nearly buried in dirt. Beside it were plastic bottles, a green tarpaulin and a yellow wellington boot. “May God protect us,” said Sophia da Silva*, a 29-year-old woman from Angola, as she trudged along the remote jungle path running parallel to a fast-flowing river. Ms Da Silva, who was seven months pregnant, struggled with every step of the 70-mile journey in the fierce tropical heat of up to 35°C. Her husband carried their two-year-old daughter in his arms. Streams of other migrants with large backpacks and bottles of water overtook them in a rush. “I am used to the worst kinds of suffering,” added Ms Da Silva, who fled death threats in her hometown of Benguela last year. “So I believe that I can survive this.” Last year, more than half a million migrants and asylum seekers like Ms Da Silva spent days crossing the Darién Gap , a remote rainforest spanning Colombia and Panama that is now at the heart of the largest migration crisis in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the biggest in the world. Last Friday, Panama’s National Migration Service announced that 2023’s record total of 520,000 migrants – four times the number that made the treacherous crossing in 2021 – is set to be broken again this year, with almost 100,000 people logged already. Read Next Violent chaos in Ecuador mirrored in nations from Chile to Costa Rica The Darién, which is the only overland route between South and Central America, has become an extreme and deadly pressure point as migrants from around the world scramble to escape from poverty, violence, conflict, and climate change. The Colombian side of the route is run by the Gulf Clan, the largest drug cartel in the country, via sophisticated rackets that transport migrants to Panama for hundreds, or in some cases thousands, of dollars per person. Colombian authorities estimate the cartel earned $820m last year thanks to the people smuggling. However, the Panamanian side, which accounts for the biggest stretch of the 10,000 sq mile Darién jungle, is without almost any state, humanitarian or cartel influence. Once migrants cross the border they are at the mercy of gangs who attack, rob and rape. “There are many dangers that people face: serious violence and crime, injury, starvation, poisonous snakes and scorpions,” said Daniel Arango, project director in Panama for the Pan
American Development Foundation , which provides livelihood support for refugees. “Safe passage isn’t possible.” Natalia Romero Peñuela, a spokesperson for Doctors without Borders (MSF), which runs three facilities at exit points of the Darién, said there had been a surge in sexual violence – 214 cases in December – including reports of armed men detaining groups of up to 200 migrants, sometimes using “rape tents” set up in the jungle. The number of migrant deaths in the Darién is not known because Colombia does not record entries. In 2023, more than 100 nationalities crossed the Darién, mostly in the hope of reaching the US. More than 80 per cent came from
Venezuela, Haiti and Ecuador, but growing numbers are arriving from further afield such as
China,
India,
Afghanistan and West Africa. Many fly into Latin American countries with visa-free policies such as Ecuador and
Brazil, before travelling northbound. Illegal trafficking is the only option for most of these migrants because “obtaining a visa is not possible or plausible”, according to Giuseppe Loprete , the International Organisation for Migration’s head of mission in Panama. “This is a humanitarian crisis and we have to create regular pathways to avoid exploitation,” he said. Mr Loprete added that the main factor behind the spike in crossings is the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to workers around the world losing their jobs. “There are a lot of reasons in there, including people seeking asylum, but overall, this is a
Labour issue,” he said. Samson Mensah, a 52-year-old from Ghana who was crossing the Darién, told i that he worked in Rio de Janeiro for five years before he lost his
Job in 2021. “I had no income,” he said. “I had to start begging on the streets for food.” For Ms Da Silva and her young family, there was still a long way to go on their journey to
New York City, where
Friends were waiting. They sat on a rock to drink pineapple juice and eat coconut biscuits after wading waist-deep across the river. “I hope we can find peace over there,” she said. *Names of migrants have been altered to protect their identities