(EFE).- Nearly 19,000 irregular migrants traveling to North America have arrived in Panama so far this year after crossing the dangerous jungle of Darienthe border with Colombia, with Venezuelans being the predominant nationality, the Panamanian government said this Saturday.
“Until now, about 19,000 migrants have entered Panama. We continue with a majority of irregular migrants of Venezuelan nationality, the Haitian being the second and the Cuban the third,” said the director of the National Migration Service (SNM), Samira Gozaine , in a video released by the Ministry of Public Security (MinSeg).
According to official figures from the SNM, in the first four months of last year, 11,487 irregular migrants crossed the Darién, of which only 15 were Venezuelans, 6,803 Haitians and 1,885 Cubans.
The statistics for 2022 published by the SNM detail the migratory flow until last March: a total of 13,425 irregular migrants crossed the Darién, of them 4,257 from Venezuela, 1,589 from Haiti, 1,164 from Senegal and 1,065 from Cuba, the predominant nationalities in this group.
Among the reasons that could explain the prevalence of Venezuelans is the employment crisis derived from the pandemic, which is pushing many of them who were in third countries to seek the United States, where a temporary immigration status was approved for this nationality, he explained. The head of mission in Panama of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Santiago Paz, told Efe.
The world body also said that a growing number of Venezuelans come directly from Venezuela, from where more than 6 million people have left in recent years fleeing the generalized crisis that is devastating the country.
Last year more than 133,000 migrants crossed the Darién, a historic figure
So far this 2022, “a manageable number” of irregular migrants have been entering Panama through the border with Colombia, Gozaine said this Saturday, and expressed that the authorities are optimistic that this rate “does not change in the course of the months”.
Last year more than 133,000 migrants crossed the Darién, a historical figure and more or less equal to that registered in the entire previous decade.
Panamanian official figures indicate that the arrival of migrants skyrocketed between June and October 2021, with a total of 105,821 in those 5 months.
The Darién is one of the migratory routes most dangerous in the world, with wild animals and criminal groups deployed in it. For years it has been crossed by migrants from all over the world who travel to North America.
Since the Cuban migrant crisis of 2015-2016, Panama receives these irregular travelers at migratory reception stations (ERM) installed on its southern (Colombia) and northern (Costa Rica) borders, where it takes the biometric data of the migrants and it provides healthcare and food, a program that consumes millions of dollars a year, the government has said.
This Saturday the Minister of Security, Juan Pino, said that next week the installation of a new ERM in San Vicente (Darién) will begin, with the capacity to house almost 500 people.
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