Jorge Enrique Botero

Correspondent

The newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, August 25, 2024, p. 21

Bogotá. The border between Colombia and Panama, known as the Darien Gap, threatens to generate one of the most severe humanitarian crises, according to reports in situ communities, as well as international organizations.

With 600,000 homeless people crossing one of the world’s most rugged borders, this binational crossing was one of the busiest places on the planet in 2023, setting off alarm bells for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). In the early hours of Friday, on Chucheros beach, southwest of the Colombian Pacific, a Colombian Navy patrol rescued 28 migrants from India, China, Bangladesh, Venezuela and South Africa, including a minor, in serious health condition, authorities said.

In recent months, there have been numerous shipwrecks following the same pattern of migrant transit to the United States, as happened last February when Panamanian authorities reported the death of four Colombian citizens who were traveling on a boat with 27 other Afghan nationals who were rescued.

Panama will resort to deportations

During his inauguration ceremony, the newly elected president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, made it clear that he will work hand in hand with the United States to apply deportation as the main tool of immigration control.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro responded that if Venezuelan migration were stopped, things would change completely, according to information from the presidency.

Beyond the friendly declaration, local analysts believe that the matter will pass into the hands of Washington, which is the first party interested in stopping the flows.

In the region, which is distinguished by its almost inaccessible topography, five irregular armed groups operate, although the domain and business are in the hands of the so-called Gulf Clan (paramilitaries). Structures of the National Liberation Army and fronts of the two FARC dissident groups are also active there, with all of which the current government has peace talks.