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The number of illegal U.S.-bound migrants crossing through the dangerous Darién Gap jungle trail fell by half during the month of November, Panama’s Migrant Authority revealed this week.
According to the latest statistical information released by the Panamanian authority, 11,144 migrants passed through the Darién Gap in November — a 51.37-percent drop from October’s 22,914. November was the month with the lowest number of migrants passing through the jungle trail so far in 2024.
The Darién Gap is a dangerous 30-mile-wide, 100-mile-long jungle trail shared between Panama and Colombia and the only land bridge that connects South and Central America. In recent years, a growing number of Venezuelans fleeing the socialist Maduro regime, as well as nationals from other South American, African, and Asian nations, have passed through the Darién Gap towards the U.S. southern border.
Panamanian authorities logged a significantly high number of thousands of U.S.-bound illegal Chinese migrants passing through the jungle trail in the first months of 2024. Many of the Chinese migrants reportedly hired the services of now-dismantled “VIP” route providers that offered “safer” and quicker routes through the jungle trail.
As of November, Venezuelans still amply lead the number of Darién migrant crossings, totaling nearly 80 percent of all of November’s registered crossings, followed by Colombian, Ecuadorian, Chinese, and Haitian national.
Adam Isacson, director for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), told Newsweek that the 2024 U.S. presidential election and President-elect Donald Trump’s victory could have influenced migrants to abstain from taking the journey to the United States.
“The November 5 election of a virulently anti-immigrant president in the United States may also be causing would-be migrants to change their plans, for now, until they have better information about what may await them,” Isacson said.
Upon taking office in July, the administration of Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino enacted a series of policies to curb the flow of migrants passing through Panamanian territory. Since then, the number of migrants crossing the Darién Gap significantly dropped in comparison to the number logged in the first six months of 2024 under the administration of center-left former President Laurentino Cortizo.
Panama registered a surge of over 25,000 migrants passing through its territory in September, largely driven by Venezuelans fleeing from their country in the wake of socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro’s fraudulent July 28 presidential election.
Mulino reportedly told local media on Thursday morning that 2,087 migrants have crossed the Darién Gap in the first days of December so far and explained that, as of the start of December, Panama has registered a 41-percent reduction in the number of migrants crossing through its territory compared to the same period in 2023.
Panama’s Migrant Authority detailed on its website that in total, 206,368 migrants crossing through the country were logged by the start of December, down from 505,809 migrants registered at the start of December 2023.
Mulino further explained to local media that 36 deportation flights have so far taken place as part of an agreement that his administration signed with the United States this year. He lamented, however, that Panama cannot currently deport Venezuelan migrants back to their country after Maduro had Venezuela cut ties with Panama and other countries that questioned the dictator’s sham election.
During his debut speech at the United Nations General Assembly in September, Mulino urged the world to aid joint international efforts to curb the flow of migrants passing through his country, which he described as an “immense global problem.” Mulino further stressed that the flow of U.S.-bound migrants passing through Panama is so large that the “new United States border” is now functionally in Panama.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
