A total of 5,961 Cuban migrants crossed the Colombia-Panama border in 2022, crossing the Darién Gap on their way through Central America to the southern border of the United States, the Panamanian government reported on Tuesday.
The number was five times what was reported by Panamanian authorities in 2021, when 1,065 Cubans crossed the stretch of border known as America’s “green hell.”
According to the International Organization for Migration, around 36 migrants died trying to cross the Darién in 2022. (AP/Fernando Vergara)
After The report248,284 migrants from different countries made the dangerous journey, a record number that doubled from the previous year when around 133,000 crossed the Darién.
Cubans ranked fourth in this statistic behind Venezuelans (150,327), Ecuadorians (29,356), and Haitians (22,435). Of the migrants as a whole, 28% (69,114) were women, 72% (179,170) men and 16% (40,438) minors.
A woman pulls a girl out of the mud as they cross the Darien Gap. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)
“We drove through Medellín and several cities to get here to Necoclí and my ultimate goal is to fulfill my dream of reaching America. My brother is waiting for me there,” said Cuban Roberto Trobajo, one of the migrants who made the crossing Voice of America.
According to data from Project for missing migrants According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 36 people lost their lives in the Darién jungle in 2022, although the organization warns the number could be much higher as many migrants die on the journey and their remains “are unreported still recovered”.
“The stories we have heard from those who have traversed the Darien jungle testify to the horrors that journey entails,” said Giuseppe Loprete, IOM mission leader in Panama.
Loprete added that many of the migrants who have ventured through the jungle “have lost their lives or have disappeared, while others have made it but now have major physical and mental health problems”.
“People who embark on this route are exposed to the dangers of the jungle, climate and terrain, as well as human traffickers and organized crime.” (Photo: IOM)
So far in 2023, around 3,800 migrants have crossed the Darién Gap, despite new border control measures announced Jan. 6 by US President Joe Biden’s administration, which stipulate that migrants who cross illegally will be turned back and the possibilities exploiting this a legal immigration process, annulled.