Migrant Fights and Fire in the Darien

On Friday night March 1st 2024 a fire broke out along with some serious fighting at a temporary migrant shelter station in San Vicente de Darién, where migrants emerging from the treacherous Darien jungle that covers the Colombia-Panama border, register with Panamanian authorities. The fire burned 10 of the housing units where people who enter the country through the Darien jungle take refuge. The fighting disturbance among migrants and eventually with Panamanian border police also resulted in the destruction of various police and border service vehicles.  At least 44 migrants were arrested in the aftermath.   

According to a statement from the Ministry of Security (Minseg), it all started when a fight began between two women over a tent, and when their partners intervened, that triggered a massive fight between the different groups.  Faced with the situation, members of the National Border Service (Senafront) tried to intervene but a group of approximately 250 migrants opposed the intervention, so more Senafront members had to be ordered in to quell the violence and put out the fire.

From San Vicente, migrants board buses that carry them across Panama to the border with Costa Rica. The flow of some 2,000 migrants daily through the Darien was cut off earlier after police in Panama arrested some of the boat captains who ferry migrants to the point where they begin hiking. Colombian prosecutors said the captains worked for tourism companies that were a front for transporting migrants at exorbitant prices.