He drama migratory of the jungle of The Darien, border natural between Colombia and Panamanot only does it affect both countries because 95% of people pass through the route nationalitiessaid the Colombian vice-chancellor this Friday in Madrid, Jorge Rojaswho opted for the cooperation to tackle the crisis.
Rojas, who is visiting Spain, He summed up in three words Bogotá’s policy on the situation in The Darien: Prevent, protect and deter immigrants, “in the sense of cooperating with countries,” he said in an Efe-Casa de América column.
“This is not just a Panama issue, nor just a matter of Colombia. By The Darien 95 year old people are passing by nationalities that range from Venezuelans “Obviously, even Africans and Asians,” he said during the interview with the director of the International Information Department of the Efe Agency.
“We are looking for formulaswe want to arrange them with cooperation“, he added.
The crisis migratory of The Darien It was recently analyzed at the meeting of the tripartite mechanism that they maintain ColombiaPanama and the United States, but it is also the subject of dialogue between the foreign ministries of the region, such as Chile, Ecuador or Peru, Rojas pointed out.
“This is going to create a new challenge for democracy. Migrations here in Europe, in Latin America, in the border between Mexico and the United States become a great challenge. To see to what extent we are capable of understanding diversity, understanding others, including them,” he said.
Colombiatransit country
The official stressed the transformation that the migration in Colombiawhich has ceased to be a destination country and has become a transit country, but “half a million people each year create a difficult situation for us,” he admitted.
To this flow migratory 2.5 million are added Venezuelans registered and the 500,000 more in process, although in the case of Venezuela, Rojas indicated, “we are exploring the voluntary return of some of the people who have spent the border toward Colombia“.
He drama of The Darien
The border natural between Panama and Colombia through The Darien It covers more than 250 kilometers, but the migrants They cover around a hundred of them on various routes that can take from three to ten days in difficult conditions.
More than 244,200 migrants They crossed the jungle of Darien so far in 2024, 31 percent less than last year, according to estimates by the Government Panamanian, who estimates that by December the figure will be around 320,000 people.
If this hypothesis is confirmed, the flow migratory would fall by 38% compared to the historic record of 520,000 that crossed the year past.
The new one Government Panamanian, who took office in July, believes that the problem is not only a crisis humanitarian but also security and has implemented an aggressive containment policy, which includes the installation of “perimeter barriers” (barbed wire fences) of about 4.7 kilometers.
Another of the measures is the agreement with the United States to finance return Flights migrants.
According to a recent report by Doctors Without Borders, 63% of the migrants Those who use this corridor come from Venezuela, 11% from Ecuador, 9% from Haiti, 8.1% from Asia and the rest from other continents.
