EFE (via 14ymedio), Bogota, December 1, 2023 — Almost 500,000 migrants have crossed the Darién Jungle region on the border between Colombia and Panama, one of the most used and dangerous routes in the journey of these people on their trip to the United States, Médicos Sin Fronteras (MSF) revealed this Thursday.
According to this organization, the number of migrants who have crossed the 60 miles of “wild nature on horseback” of the Darién Gap is about to exceed 500,000 so far in 2023, a figure much higher than that of 248,000 in all of 2022 and 133,000 in 2021.
“The number of migrants who have crossed the jungle is equivalent to more than 11% of Panama’s population. This is an unprecedented crisis to which not enough global or regional attention has been paid,” said the general coordinator of MSF for Colombia and Panama, Luis Eguiluz.
He added that “safe routes have not been guaranteed to migrants, nor sufficient resources for the organizations that serve them.”
According to MSF, in addition to the natural difficulties of crossing the jungle, migrants are also exposed to attacks, robberies, kidnapp