Puerto Carti, Panama – They once bravely confronted the jungle of Darien Gap, trekking days with simple goals along the dangerous migrant passages that divide Colombia and Panama. Seek asylum in the US
Now, immigration by boat – immigration primarily from the Andes countries of Venezuela and Colombia, has since given up President Donald Trump crackdown In exile, and back to the country they once tried to flee.
One of those speedboats heading south on Sunday, piercing the river that covers the dense jungle near the Colombia-Panama border. Among them, about 20 migrants were clinging to their backpacks, protecting themselves from water spray.
Give up after Trump crackdown
Many of those same people have been waiting several months, sometimes over a year in Mexico, and have been appointed to obtain asylum appointments in the US through one app for Biden-era CBP. It ended under Trump.
” When Trump arrives “They're a great time,” said Cara Castillo, a 36-year-old Venezuelan traveling with her sister.
That's part of what authorities call the “reverse flow” of immigration. The speedboat departs from Swas in the countryside of Panama, cross the sea in a pack and hopped to the island until it reaches the northern tip of Colombia.
The boat was part of a Well-oiled immigrant smuggler It once raked money from a steady stream of hundreds of thousands of people almost a year ago.
The boat route across the lands of Indigenous Gunayara was part of what smugglers once called the VIP route. There, immigrants paid more because they didn't need to do a fatal trekking in the Darien Gap.
But now, much of Darien's immigration smuggling industry is collapsed, with some smugglers taking advantage of the reverse migration to charge immigrants at a rapid cost.
Paying Zelle and other money via moving apps was the last of their money for many, after spending almost everything to pursue their American dreams.
The “reversible” of immigration
Castillo was troubled by “complex emotions.” She was part of a major migration from crisis-hitting Venezuela, fled to other Andean countries such as Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia before deciding to travel to the US.
She lived in Chile for five years. Chile was a country that gradually closed its doors to immigration in Venezuela, and then decided to travel through Darien Gap to risk bounce back from country to country until it reached southern Mexico.
In early February, she and her sister decided to give when they realized they had lost the chance to legally seek asylum in the US, but she ended up with their four children and mother. I was eager to go home. Growing up from the raffle, she said, sitting in front of other immigrants and intense music while waiting for the boat.
“Perhaps (music) is about brightening up the mood, but nothing can take away the darkness,” she said.
It is unclear exactly how many people pass the boat route every day, but for weeks, large groups, including hundreds, mostly from Venezuela and Colombia, have flocked to areas governed by Indigenous Law. . They are offered overnight stays and sea travel.
This line up along the numbers provided by neighboring Costa Rica. Costa Rica is seen with 50-75 people crossing the country heading south every day. It just drops inside a bucket of numbers seen a year ago, but the government said it saw thousands of migrants heading north every day.
A dangerous journey
Several immigrants awaiting a boat back to Colombia say they have refused to return to Venezuela after the recent elections in the country that has promoted democratic warnings and violence. They struggled with the same economic and legal instability they faced in other countries for many years, which has long pleaded with the international community for more funds to undertake the migration crisis.
“There's no way back to Venezuela. There are many of us who don't want to go back. They go to Peru, Colombia, Ecuador. Just like before,” Celia Alcala waited for the boat.
However, boat rides are also fatal. There is little police presence at checkpoint, despite Panama authorities saying that boat captains must follow security measures.
On Friday, one boat ignored heavy thrust warnings while carrying 21 and 19 migrants off the coast of Panama. Authorities say they claimed the life of one 8-year-old Venezuelan child.
Many of the deaths have fostered concern among many people waiting for their boat, like Juan Luis Guedes of Venezuela, who was returning from southern Mexico with his wife and daughter.
After leaving Chile, where he lived for eight years after fleeing Venezuela, the family waited four months for an asylum booking, hoping to be reunited with their American family.
“I don't know if we'll get there alive, but if we make it, the idea is to go back to Chile. My daughter was born there,” he said.
