So far this year, according to official data, 2,904 migrants have crossed the Darien’s jungle. Regarding the reverse flow, people who make the crossing from north to south, the figure amounts to 7,757 and most are Venezuelans
The president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, declared on Thursday 24 that the immigration crisis in the Darién jungle is settled. He said that “for all practical effects” that step is “closed” by the drastic fall in the flow of migrants.
Mulino explained, during his weekly press conference, that so far in April, the Darien 73 migrants have crossed on their way to North America, compared to the 194 that had done so in March and the 29,259 that they did in April last year, which represents a 99.7% drop compared to 2024.
So far this year, according to official data to which the EFE agency This week, Darién 2,904 migrants have crossed, compared to the more than 126,000 of the same period last year.
In addition, with regard to the reverse arrival of migrants from north to south, pushed by the difficulty of entering the United States or deportations after the hardening of immigration policies in the country after the arrival of Donald Trump to power at the end of January, the number is not “considerable.”
Mulino explained that the reverse flow amounts to 7,757 people: 2,319 so far in April, compared to 2,804 in March. Of the total arrivals, around 95% according to data provided to EFEThey are Venezuelans.
The president of Panama said that this reverse flow is being handled “in a very coherent way” by the Panamanian immigration authorities in coordination with their counterparts of neighboring countries, both from Colombia, the first destination, and from Costa Rica, as a previous country of transit.
The Panamanian government links the fall of migratory traffic to the north to measures such as road closure in the jungle to enable a single “humanitarian corridor”, the application of fines for irregularly entering the country and the deportation flight program financed by the US.
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That agreement, signed by Panama and the United States on July 1, on the same day of the inauguration of Mulino, contemplates the repatriation via air and based on the Panamanian laws of irregular migrants that have arrived in the Central American country, with the United States financing flights.
However, it was the arrival to power in the United States of Donald Trump and his new migratory restrictions that drastically descend the passage of migrants to the north and caused an increase in “reverse flow”, although more limited than the initial forecasts.
The restrictions in Panama are in force since last year, which closed with 300,549 migrants who arrived in the Central American country after crossing the Darien, 41% less than the record of 511,103 of 2023, according to official statistics.
*Journalism in Venezuela is exercised in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments arranged for the punishment of the word, especially the laws “against hatred”, “against fascism” and “against blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
