Colombia, Panama and USA Agree to Undertake Greater Cooperation at the Darien Gap
A tired family stops for a rest while trekking through the dangerous Darien jungle.
The governments of Colombia, Panama and the United States agreed on Monday to undertake greater cooperation to mitigate irregular migration, particularly that which uses human traffickers and seeks to reach the north of the continent through dangerous routes, such as the Darien jungle.
In a joint statement, Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo, his Panamanian counterpart Javier Martínez-Acha, and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said the agreements reached during the meeting seek to “strengthen routes for safe migration and combat human trafficking and migrant smuggling in the region,” according to a statement from the Colombian Foreign Ministry.
The Government of Panama reminds that “the Darien is deadly”. The Darien is an expanse of jungle that runs along the border between Colombia and Panama. At least 45 migrants have died so far in 2024 trying to cross Panamanian territory to the United States, Panama’s Minister of Public Security, Frank Ábrego, said last week.
According to Ábrego, this year some 230,000 people entered the country illegally from Colombia. In 2023, the figure was more than 520,000.
The journey through Darien entails multiple dangers for migrants. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the main documented risks are robbery, assault, kidnapping, disease, attacks by wild animals and accidents in a jungle full of rivers, mountains and mudflats.
