Panama’s next president says he’ll try to shut down one of the world’s busiest #migration routes
▻https://apnews.com/article/panama-immigration-mulino-darien-f46becc989e0f2c944922b03e6417a3f
But masses of people took the challenge and set out on foot through the jungle-clad Colombian-Panamanian border. A crossing that initially could take a week or more eventually was whittled down to two or three days as the path became more established and entrepreneurial locals established a range of support services.
It remains a risky route, however. Reports of sexual assaults have continued to rise, some migrants are killed by bandits in robberies and others drown trying to cross rushing rivers.
Even so, some 147,000 migrants have already entered #Panama through Darien this year.
Previous attempts to close routes around the world have simply shifted traffic to riskier paths.
“People migrate for many reasons and frequently don’t have safe, orderly and legal ways to do it,” said Giuseppe Loprete, chief of mission in Panama for the U.N.’s International Organization for Immigration. “When the legal routes are not accessible, migrants run the risk of turning to criminal networks, traffickers and dangerous routes, tricked by disinformation.”