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People who migrate through the Darién suffer multiple human rights violations, as they run risks of death, threats and extortion during their journey. | EFE

The Darien route: a journey of survival that calls for more humane migration policies

Migration through the Darién reflects a humanitarian and human rights crisis. Restrictive policies, external influences and socioeconomic contexts deepen these migratory flows. It’s urgent that Latin American countries develop regional policies based on human rights to protect migrants and communities.

“We walked like you wouldn’t believe. One night I had an anxiety attack and couldn’t stop crying. I kept asking my husband over and over again how he could have thought of bringing us here.” These are the words of Yermaris, a Venezuelan woman who crossed the Colombian-Panamanian jungle with her husband and 6-year-old son in 2022. Approximately 328,000 Venezuelans, equivalent to 1% of Venezuela’s population, crossed the Darien in 2023 like Yermaris. As she tells us, people who migrate along this route suffer multiple human rights violations, as they are at risk of death, threats and extortion during their journey. They also face possible drowning, dehydration, wild animal attacks and water-borne and vector-borne diseases. The situation is especially worrisome for migrant women, as sexual violence is common, both by Panamanian border forces and by criminal organizations, which have been increasing with impunity.

For Venezuelans like Yermaris, the fundamental reason that pushed them to migrate through the Darien was the Complex Humanitarian Emergency in their country, which has generated more than 6.5 million migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean. And although the nationality that most crossed the Darien in 2023 was Venezuelan, the causes of the migratory phenomenon in this area are multiple and complex; the humanitarian crisis in Haiti, the violence in Ecuador, the territorial conflicts and land dispossession in Africa, the authoritarianism and the deep socioeconomic inequality of some countries in Asia, to mention just a few.

However, we also consider it important to highlight two internal and external migration policy contexts in Latin American and Caribbean countries that have marked this trend. On the one hand, deficient regularization policies and visa regimes, influenced by U.S. interests and, on the other hand, the application of mainly punitive and inadequate models against the smuggling of migrants.

A shared crisis: Latin America’s role in its creation and management

Approximately 70% of Venezuelans fleeing the Complex Humanitarian Emergency have headed towards Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, or Chile. The flows through the Darien can be characterized as a remigration process, as some surveys indicate that most of the Venezuelans crossing the jungle are not migrating for the first time, but were living in one of these four receiving countries. This could be attributed, among other causes, to the institutional inability to offer accessible regularization channels for migrants and the increase in visa and asylum requirements, which has stimulated this second exodus.

Initially, Chile, which has received almost 500,000 Venezuelan migrants, adopted a welcoming approach to Venezuelans. As migration flows increased, immigration restrictions grew, and by September 2023, there were no regularization channels for people who entered the country without documents. In Peru and Ecuador, very few migrants have been able to obtain permanent residency, due to restrictive conditions such as high costs or documentation requirements. Without regularized status, Venezuelan migrants remain in a precarious economic position, without access to public services or even formal employment. It can be said that the migration crisis through the Colombian-Panamanian jungle worsened due to the lack of effective policies in Latin American countries to integrate migrants economically, which has pushed many migrants to seek better economic opportunities in the United States.

The increase in visa requirements for Venezuelans in recent years, influenced in part by the US immigration containment policy, explains these migration flows through the Darien. Today, Venezuelans cannot regularly enter any Central American country without a visa. This, despite studies that have shown that these visa restrictions for Venezuelans in Chile, Ecuador and Peru only increased irregular entries and delayed the economic integration of migrants. Notably, this goes against the 2018 resolution of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which urges countries in the region to liberalize visas for Venezuelans and expand channels for regular, safe, accessible and affordable migration. However, visa restrictions, and border militarization, are part of U.S. tactics to contain migration south of its border; Mexico’s decision to require visas for Venezuelans in 2022 was made under pressure from the U.S. and serves as an example of the externalization of U.S. migration policies.

In July of this year, the U.S. pledged to provide technical consultation and support on migration issues to Panama, offering more than $6 million to equip and train its national border forces, which have been involved in human rights violations, including rape, against migrants in the Darien. With US-funded flights, Panama has deported Indian, Ecuadorian and Colombian migrants from the Darien. This appears to compromise its international non-refoulement obligations. We believe it is critical that Latin American countries do not embrace this US-driven model of border management; it treats migrants as threats to national security, rather than vulnerable people.

The ‘war’ against migrant smuggling: Who suffers the consequences?

One need only read headlines about the Darien to notice that much of the ‘solutions’, especially those influenced by the US, to curb jungle migration focus on dismantling criminal migrant smuggling networks. Both international legislation, including the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants, and much national policy paint all those who provide services to ‘illegal’ migrants as dangerous criminals. This is done without distinguishing the work, occupation and level of responsibility of those involved in this illicit economy. This not only tends to ignore the underlying causes of migration already described, but can also produce initiatives that can even destroy local economies for transit towns, which, in Colombia, are economically marginalized communities.

While migration flows, and the approximately 350 migrants sleeping on the beaches of Necoclí, have put a strain on public services in these municipalities, the provision of basic subsistence services to migrants has also become part of local economies. While the vulnerability of migrants to abuse by smugglers must be recognized, a study by the University of Antioquia indicates that local Urabá individuals who provide ad hoc services to people en route to the Darién often do not have direct links to armed groups, nor are they part of an organized network of migrant smugglers. In addition, Necoclí, Turbo and Acandí are historically underserved municipalities, where the local population, mainly Afro-descendants, do not have a solid institutional offer, which translates into a lack of formal employment opportunities and poor access to basic public services. Therefore, it is crucial, as the Comprehensive Plan for Attention and Accompaniment in the Darien (PIAAD) has begun to do, to ensure that public policies to address the crisis in the Darien take into account the needs and contributions of communities in transit towns.

Towards a regional migration policy with a human rights focus

The coordinated role of Latin American countries is crucial for Venezuelan migration to be properly managed and to ensure safe, regular and accessible routes in the coming months, in which an increase in the flow of Venezuelan migrants is predicted. Since the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice validated, without evidence, the re-election of Nicolás Maduro, one out of every two Venezuelans surveyed is considering the possibility of emigrating. To prevent the deepening of the crisis in the Darien, the countries of the region cannot continue to make old mistakes, or manage migration with policies of militarization and containment.

No, I would not risk it again. The [road to] Darien seemed easy, compared to what we later experienced at the borders. All that time I was praying to God that I wouldn’t be touched by a military person like my sister was.” This was Yermaris’ story as she recounted her experience of 38 days crossing Central America to reach the U.S., witnessing systematic human rights violations. Such stories could be less frequent if the commitment of the countries in the region to develop adequate migration policies increased, taking into account the needs of the context, offering safe migration channels, as the European Union did, for example, with the Ukrainian migration derived from the war. The Latin American region has a responsibility to follow the recommendations of the IACHR, and manage migration through the Darien with a human rights approach, considering the underlying causes of migration, the needs of transit peoples and limiting the militaristic approach.

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