More than 130,000 migrants, including a growing number of Venezuelans, risked their lives in 2021 to cross the Darién Gap, the closed jungle that separates South America from the Central American isthmus, United Nations agencies reported.
The year 2021 “marked a record”, since “some 133 thousand people made the trip, the vast majority Haitians, including their children born in Chile and Brazil, followed by Cubans, Venezuelans and people from places as far away as Angola, Bangladesh, Ghana, Uzbekistan and Senegal” in their attempt to reach the United States, the report stated.
“In 2021 alone, at least 51 people were reported dead or missing,” added the statement from the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration (IMO).
In the first two months of 2022, the number of migrants tripled compared to the same period in 2021, with a growing number of Venezuelans attempting the journey from Colombia to Panama.
“As the socio-economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic hit refugees and migrants from Venezuela in host countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, an increasing number are heading north and joining other groups of people on the move,” UNHCR and IMO said.
Panamanian statistics cited by UN agencies indicate that some 2,500 Venezuelans crossed the Darién in January and February, a figure close to the estimate for all of 2021.
The Darién Gap, which marks the border between Colombia and Panama, is one of the most dangerous refugee and migrant routes in the world; It consists of 5 thousand square kilometers of tropical jungle, rugged mountains and rivers.
The absence of roads means that their crossing can take ten days, during which the migrants “are exposed to natural hazards, as well as criminal groups that perpetrate sexual abuse and robbery,” the report indicates.
