In the first 3 months of 2023, 87,390 irregular migrants crossed the Colombian jungle of the "Darién Gap" (natural border between Panama and Colombia).

The Darien jungle is one of the most dangerous regions in Latin America, an area of swamps and hostile forests of approximately 8,000 km2 where 3 groups of rebels clash, essential passage for thousands of irregular migrants from countries from all over the world who travel by land and continue their journey north in the hope of reaching Mexico, the United States and Canada https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36681-haiti-flash-from-brazil-to-the-american-border-costs-and-difficulties-of-the-journey-for-haitian-migrants-map.html

A crossing during which migrants are sometimes robbed, assaulted, raped or killed along the way and where dozens have died for various reasons (aggression, health, poisonous animals, rebels, etc.) Panama has declared that at least 50 migrants had died crossing the jungle in 2021, but officials said that number is far lower than the actual number of migrants who died during the dangerous journey.

From January 1st to March 31, 2023, 87,390 illegal migrants entered Panama (Jan. 24,634, Feb. 24,657, March 38,099) or almost 7 times more than the same period in 2022 (13,796), according to the report published on Saturday April 1 by the National Migration Service of Panama (SNM).

By nationality, among the migrants who crossed the Darién in the first quarter of 2023, Haitians come in 2nd position:

Venezuela: 30,250;

Haiti: 23,640;

Ecuador: 14.227;

China: 3.855;

India, 2,543;

Chile, 2,499;

Colombia, 2,230;

Brazil, 2.072;

Afghanistan, 926;

Cameroon, 532;

Somalia, 444;

Peru, 400.

Given the increasing trend of this migratory flow, authorities estimate that around 400,000 people will cross the Darien jungle this year, almost double the 248,000 who did so in 2022.

Migrant arrivals in March 2023 came mainly from 3 countries Venezuela: 28,816; Haiti, 6,896 and Ecuador, 2,772.

Of those who crossed the Darien jungle in March 2023, 30,929 were adults and 7,170 minors.

The Panamanian authorities and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have warned and expressed concern about the increasing number of minors arriving in Panama through the Darien jungle, often accompanied by their families, but sometimes alone "We have had the testimony of people who abandoned them in the jungle because they could not manage them" declared Samira Gozaine, Director of the SNM who described these situations as "something very tragic".

Additionally, UNICEF has warned that the number of unaccompanied or separated minors continues to rise and, based on figures from the first two months of 2023, estimates that an average of 5 children a day arrive unaccompanied in Panama while in 2022 for the same period it recorded less than 40...

Read also about the Darien :

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-38519-icihaiti-migration-22-400-haitians-entered-panama-illegally-in-2022.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36681-haiti-flash-from-brazil-to-the-american-border-costs-and-difficulties-of-the-journey-for-haitian-migrants-map.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34962-haiti-flash-56-600-haitians-this-year-crossed-the-dangerous-jungle-of-darien-colombia.html

S/ HaitiLibre