Never before have so many people crossed the inhospitable Darién Gap that marks the border between Colombia and Panama. More than half a million have done so in the last year heading north, mainly to the United States. The passage of migrants through the dangerous routes that cross that thick jungle continues to break all records, driven by the dominance exercised on the Colombian side by the Clan del Golfo, the paramilitary group that acts as a hegemonic actor in the area. Along the way, they face all kinds of humiliations, in an unstoppable humanitarian crisis, as corroborated by a new report that documents that hell.
“Venezuelans, Haitians and Ecuadorians, but also people from other continents such as Asia and Africa, risk their lives in this jungle where they are exposed to abuse by criminal groups, including sexual violence, and receive little protection or humanitarian aid,” the document warns. by Human Rights Watch (HRW) published this Thursday. More than 440,000 Venezuelans have crossed the Darién Gap since January 2022, the highest number among all nationalities, driven by the long political, social and economic crisis in their country. They are followed by more than 80,000 Ecuadorians – escaping the increase in violence – and more than 63,000 Haitians – another country that has suffered a prolonged political, security and humanitarian crisis.
The jump has been more than alarming. More than 130,000 migrants, mainly Haitians and Cubans, crossed in 2021. The number practically doubled to 250,000 in 2022, with an increase in Venezuelans and Ecuadorians. And between January and September of this year alone, more than 457,000 people have crossed. The figure is on track to double again.
The Darién, once an impregnable natural barrier, is the horror on earth. The terrain is steep and slippery, and the rivers are mighty. Most of the routes, as HRW has corroborated with four field visits, follow trails that crown hills with heights of up to 1,800 meters. Those who cross call the highest point the “Loma de la muerte”, and the Turquesa river, the “River of death”, due to the large number of corpses in its waters. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reported that at least 229 people disappeared in Darién between January 2021 and September 2023, but no one knows for sure how many have died along the way.
The report “This hell was my only option”, the first in a series on migration through the Darien Gap, documents the causes and responses to this crisis. Restrictions on movement from South American countries to Mexico and Central America, often promoted by the United States Government, explains HRW, have contributed to a sharp increase in the number of people crossing the jungle. “This exposes migrants and asylum seekers to abuse, including sexual violence, and strengthens organized crime in the area,” she points out. HRW had already warned that the requirements imposed by several Latin American countries caused a jump in the number of Venezuelans who are exposed to armed groups, river flooding or falls from those steep hills. Also to the shipwrecks of the boats with which they often seek to shorten the journey, with the ‘coyotes’ and the Gulf Clan as the big winners.
“The situation in the Darien Gap is the result of a series of failed migration policies in the hemisphere and underscores the urgent need to establish a rights-respecting response to protect those fleeing human rights crises in the region,” he maintains. The document. It suggests that governments should put in place a region-wide temporary protection regime that grants Venezuelans and Haitians legal status for a reasonable and renewable term.
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Migrants are at the mercy of criminal groups that operate with total impunity. “On the Colombian side of the Darién, the Clan del Golfo, an armed group involved in drug trafficking, regulates the routes that migrants and asylum seekers can use, decides who can assist them along the way, extorts those who benefit from the migratory flow and establishes standards of conduct for the local population and migrants, which are sometimes enforced through violence,” the report notes. The Colombian army estimates that this armed group obtains an average of $125 for each person who crosses the Darién. If the estimate is correct, HRW calculates, the Gulf Clan could have obtained a total of $57 million between January and October 2023 due to its control over the migratory route.
The NGO joins the chorus of organizations that have denounced the dominance of the Gulf Clan in the area, and its role in migrant trafficking. “Informal roads and sea routes bring thousands of migrants closer to the US border each week, filling the coffers of one of the largest drug trafficking groups in the world in the process, as well as the local communities responsible for migrant smuggling. ”, noted last week the International Crisis Group, which called for improving cross-border coordination between Colombia and Panama. The Ideas for Peace Foundation (FIP) has also highlighted that the regulatory and territorial control capacity of the Clan del Golfo remains almost intact, “despite having been the subject of one of the most robust intelligence and judicial investigation operations in the world.” recent history of Colombia”.
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