A record 520,000 people crossed the treacherous jungle between Colombia and Panama known as the Darién Gap in 2023, more than double the number reported the year before, according to new figures from the government of Panama.
The people who made the journey that marks the start of the dangerous trek north from South America to the United States last year were mostly from Venezuela, Ecuador, Haiti and China, according to the numbers from Panama’s migration agency.
Around a quarter of the people who crossed were minors, said Samira Gozaine, who heads the agency.
“This is a national security problem,” she told reporters. “Unfortunately, we do not have a quick solution to solve it.”
Since Laurentino Cortizo, Panama’s president, took office in 2019, the number of people transiting the Darién has soared, leading authorities to call for international aid.
The situation has been driven, in part, by a sharp increase in Venezuelans fleeing the protracted economic and social collapse of the once-prosperous oil nation. In recent years, more than 7 million Venezuelans have fled their country, according to UN figures.
The hostility of the Darién’s swampy jungles has historically blocked mass transport in the region which has few roads and little state presence. For decades, armed drug-trafficking gangs have been the de facto authority in the area.
But it remains the only land-based pathway connecting South America to Central America.
Those who cross the Darién risk violence, sexual abuse, human trafficking and disease. In September, Reuters reported that Africans heading to the United States are flying to Nicaragua to bypass the dangers of the Darién Gap.
The number of people from China making the risky trek has jumped, partly as Covid lockdowns there slowed the economy and as it became more difficult for Chinese nationals to obtain US visas.