Migrant Crossings Through Panama’s Darién Gap Drop 41% in 2024

• Some 302,000 migrants, mostly Venezuelans, crossed the Panamanian jungle of Darién in 2024 on their way to the United States, 41.0% less than the previous year, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino announced on Thursday.

• The Panamanian jungle has become a corridor for migrants who, from South America, try to reach the United States. Most of them are Venezuelans, although there are also Colombians, Ecuadorians, Chinese, and Haitians, among others. 

• The Panamanian government attributes this decrease to the closure of some paths in the jungle and to the help of Washington, which finances the repatriation flights of migrants through an agreement signed in July. With this program, which includes a US contribution of six million dollars, Panama has deported more than 1,500 migrants on about forty flights to Colombia, Ecuador, and India.

• However, this measure does not include Venezuelans, whom Panama allows to continue towards the United States since Caracas does not allow the arrival of flights from the Central American country. 

• There is a “logistical problem with Venezuela, but its migrants advance towards the north of Central America as appropriate and, of course, respecting all their human rights,” said Mulino. The Panamanian president stated on December 19 that in 2024 at least 55 migrants died and 180 children were abandoned while crossing the Darién.

(Source: Tico Times)