Panama burying more migrant victims of brutal Darien Gap
By JUAN ZAMORANO
today
AGUA FRIA, Panama (AP) — In an isolated cemetery in Panama’s Darien province, migrants who die crossing the most treacherous segment of their journey toward the United States are buried with a plasticized card containing what little information is available about them in case one day someone comes looking.
On a recent afternoon, white-suited workers laid to rest 15 sets of remains in a long trench at the back of the cemetery. A local priest standing at the head of the trench with a candle, crucifix and flowers performed a simple ceremony. On the white body bags were handwritten clues: “Unknown in Bajo Grande,” “Unknown in Turquesa river,” and “Unknown #3, Minor.”
So far this year, Panama has recovered at least 50 sets of remains from migrants crossing the Darien Gap, a number officials believe is only a portion of those who died in the dense, lawless jungle. In recent years, 20 to 30 bodies on average have been recovered annually, but this year Panamanian authorities say more than 90,000 migrants — mostly Haitians — have crossed the Darien Gap from Colombia and the body count reflects that surging migration.
“That number is a minimum quantity of the human remains there are along the whole route,” said José Vicente Pachar, director of Panama’s Forensic Sciences Institute. “Many of them die of natural causes, for example, a heart attack; they fall and no one attends to them. They stay there or they’re assaulted or the water’s current comes and takes the bodies that end up floating along the river’s edge.” Snake bites are also common.
More:
https://apnews.com/article/caribbean-panama-united-states-358e8ef8d1696c56ecf153c7fc9d709f
Darien Gap
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08 October 2021
Hundreds of migrants arrive daily to the indigenous community of Bajo Chiquito, in Panama, after walking for days through the Darien jungle. They take a boat or canoe that costs USD 25 per passenger to get to Migrant Reception Centres ( ERM by its acronym in Spanish). Photo: IOM / Idiam Osorio
Panama City - More than 91,300 migrants, mostly Haitians, have trekked through the perilous Darien Gap jungle to Panama from Colombia this year hoping to reach the United States, Canada or Mexico, according to Panama's National Migration Service (SNM). The figure for the first nine months triples the previous record of 30,000 on the same route during all of 2016.
"Border closures and economic contractions due to the COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in irregular migration,'' said Santiago Paz, International Organization for Migration (IOM) Chief of Mission in Panama. "Caribbean and extra-regional migrants make the crossing in extremely vulnerable conditions and are exposed to risks along their migratory route, particularly in the crossing of the Darien Gap on the border between Panama and Colombia."
Between January and September 2021, many of the 56,600 Haitian migrants were accompanied by children born during their migratory journey. Migrants also arrive from Cuba (12.8K), Venezuela (1.5K) and dozens of countries in Asia and Africa, including Bangladesh, Senegal, Ghana, Uzbekistan, India and Nepal.
This migration movement slows during the rainy season (between May and July), but this year's figures show an increase despite the weather, which poses extra risks for travellers due to rising rivers.
More:
https://www.iom.int/news/more-91000-migrants-have-crossed-darien-gap-way-north-america-year
It's never mentioned that Cuba and Venezuela, both countries with leftist leaders have been crushed by murderous sanctions which have destroyed their economies, in Cuba's case, over 50 years, starting against Cuba during the Eisenhower presidency, during the late 1950's, in the world's longest economic war on another country. Our corporate media simply portray the economic problems in these leftist-led countries as the result of people not overthrowing their leftist leaders the way Washington intends. Right-wingers claim the sanctions do no harm. If that's the case, why not remove them?