Darien Gap migrant crossings through Colombia-Panama jungle harming the environment, say officials

So far this year, a record number of 78,585 migrants have crossed the dangerous Darién jungle on foot, the natural border that divides Panama and Colombia, which is five times more than the figures registered in 2022, the Minister of Panamanian Public Security warned on Saturday.

With only week to go before the end of March, 29,294 migrants have already crossed the Darién jungle from Colombia this month, surpassing the February figures, with 24,657, Minister Juan Manuel Pino reported in a statement on social networks.

"As has been seen this year, more migrants are going to come, that's what you see to the south. We already have very high numbers, where there is an entry of more than a thousand people daily," said Pino, who toured with other authorities the border area of Cañas Blancas.

Last year already marked a record number for migrants crossing from Panama through the Darién jungle, peaking to 248,000,almost double than the number identified in 2021. The Panamanian authorities estimate that this year 400,000 migrants could cross its territory, breaking all records.

Reports indicate that during the first three months of 2022, 13,791 people crossed the jungle, whereas this year 78,585 did so during the same period of time.

In March of last year, 4,827 migrants crossed this natural border, while in this unfinished month almost 30,000 have already done so.

This situation underscores "the responsibility we have in security, we also have to see this issue from other perspectives and involve other authorities," Pino said.

HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

"This is an inhospitable region in Panama where entire families go looking for a better future in the United States, from Venezuela, Haiti and Ecuador most frequently," Pino said while adding that the massive flow of migrants has also created a detrimental "environmental impact" to the forest as lots of waste is being left behind. 

"Thousands of people risk their lives every day, crossing this sanctuary of biodiversity, in a migratory flow that threatens to overwhelm us," said Panamanian Vice President José Gabriel Carrizo this Saturday at the Ibero-American Summit in Santo Domingo. 

He added that, "the international community is called upon to generate a will that, while safeguarding human existence, preserve this natural heritage for future generations."

Officials have repeatedly warned migrants who  cross this jungle on foot that the journey takes at least several days through rugged terrain. The gap has become one of the most dangerous border crossings in the world, where natural obstacles such as swollen rivers and wild animals are compounded by robberies at gunpoint and rape.

To make it through, many migrants strip themselves of the few belongings they carry or are robbed, leaving them with almost nothing except pieces of clothing and other objects that are left along the route.

That waste is negatively impacting those natural places, according to authorities. 

Human excrement and the dead also contaminate the waters of the rivers, later making the migrants who drink it and the indigenous communities of the region sick, who have suffered a drastic change in their way of life with this migratory exodus.