CITY OF PANAMA.- The Darién Jungle still remains a dynamic option for migrants trying to reach the United States through this journey full of obstacles and dangers, according to the latest data reported by the Ministry of Public Security of Panama.
So far in 2024, more than 68,000 citizens have crossed the jungle and of that number, according to the National Immigration Service, 20% correspond to children and adolescents.
This amount, according to reports from 2023 in the same period, represents 22,000 more people, an exponential growth that worries the authorities of the Isthmus nation.
The Director of the National Migration Service, Samira Gozaine, highlighted the challenge for the Panamanian State of reinforcing humanitarian assistance in the face of an unprecedented situation, with an imminent and abrupt increase in the irregular flow of migrants through the Darién jungle.
Gozaine stressed that the irregular flow of foreigners through Panamanian territory has experienced an increase from 10,000 in 2009 to 520,000 in 2023 “and so far in 2024 there are already 63,806 people who have crossed the Darién National Park.” However, the Ministry of Security updated the figure this February 24 to more than 68,000.
Gozaine said that this situation has cost Panama more than 70 million dollars in the last four years, in an attempt to provide dignified attention to each of these foreigners: food, accommodation, drinking water, health and safety.
The jungle swallowed them
“So far, since the influx began to grow, the National Immigration Service has identified 226 deaths, although the head of the immigration portfolio was emphatic in pointing out that the real number of those who lost their lives in the attempt will never be known. for having a better life and that they will never be repatriated to their homes because their bodies were swallowed by the jungle,” the press release states.
Gozaine also expressed that the Colombian-Panamanian border has become a dangerous zone that does not respond to the principles of human mobility, but rather to a new organized crime business that is replacing drug trafficking with human trafficking.
From July 2009 to February of this year, 99,331 biometric tests have been carried out that have allowed the identification of members of demilitarized groups in Colombia and people linked to all types of crimes, including homicides, pedophilia, and both men and women wanted on alert. red from Interpol, he added.
Source: Migration Panama / Ministry of Public Security of Panama / Editorial Diario las Américas
