Exclusive: Yami Virgin invited to tour migrant camp in Panama as that border is shut down
Just days before taking office and signing an agreement with the U.S. to stop the flow of migrants through the Panamanian jungle known as the Darien Gap, the new president and the security minister invited our cameras for a tour of the largest migrant camp there. Our Yami Virgin was the only U.S. reporter invited on that tour right before the shutdown of the border with Colombia.
It has been the path that hundreds of thousands of migrants have taken over the last 15 years, but one that no one outside of Panama started noticing until 2020. The Panamanian government first sounded the alarm 15 years ago when the number of migrants started growing here in the Darien Province, which shares the border with Colombia.
Just a few days before the new president of Panama, Jose Raul Mulino was sworn in, he toured the Darien jungle. I was invited by the new security minister, Frank Abrego, to see firsthand the humanitarian disaster Panama has been dealing with.
We landed at 1 pm in Panama and were immediately picked up and on our way to the Darien Province, which borders Colombia. The ride, which should only take a couple of hours, was made even longer due to the conditions of the road. The biggest problem is the number of buses moving through here with migrants every day, heading to the opposite end of the country to hand the migrants over to Costa Rica so they can continue their path to the US.
This is the camp known as Lajas Blancas. On this day, about 1,400 migrants arrived after a 4-hour canoe ride on one of the longest rivers in Panama, the Chucunaque.
President Mulino took the opportunity to speak to some of the people who had just arrived at the migrant processing area.
One migrant from Haiti said, "I speak Spanish and Portuguese very well. May God protect all of our lives." President Mulino responded, "You are alive and that is a win."
The majority of these migrants come from Venezuela, but there are some from Africa, Burma, and China, to name a few. All of them are heading to the U.S.
"The president was shocked by the number of people who crossed through that human corridor where they lived through the tragedy. He saw it firsthand—the tragedy that men, women, and children go through," said Security Minister Abrego.
Mulino said during his inaugural speech that he will not allow Panama to be an open path to thousands of people who enter illegally into Panama.
Abrego tells us that this trip helped to coordinate the closing or partial closing of this illegal path, which was announced on Monday when Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas represented the U.S. during the inauguration of Mulino in Panama City.
"We know there is a debate at the presidential campaign level on immigration, and we see it from our point of view. This is affecting our indigenous communities and our environment, and the level of criminal activity from outside of our country," said the newly appointed Security minister.
Panama, with the help of the U.S., runs some of these migrants through U.S. and international criminal databanks like NCIC, the National Crime Information Center, and the International Criminal Police Commission, or Interpol. Panama only received two machines from the U.S. to run biometrics, so for now, they must profile to use it. A shortage of Panamanian personnel also limits the use of this tool. That is where transnational criminal organizations have the opportunity to get their coyotes or traffickers by keeping an eye on their money-making machine.
We traveled with a U.S. security expert who pointed out to us some young men with El Salvador's MS 13 gang tattoos, Barrio 18, and others from Mexico, including CJNG, who have no reason to be this far south crossing the jungle.
According to Panamanian sources, what remains to be seen is whether the US will keep its end of the deal and help Panama fly migrants back to their country of origin or the country where they last came from, most of them getting through Colombia. Sources tell us that Colombia has received the bulk of American money to try and stop the flow, while Panama has yet to receive similar financial support.
In this jungle building a wall is not an option. Building an ecologically friendly line of defense with technology makes more sense according to the U.S. security sources who traveled to Darien with us. Panama government officials say the Darien jungle is taking a beating by the sheer number of migrants that have traveled through it over the last 15 years. Each migrant leaves behind about 20 pounds of garbage.
Many migrants I spoke to told me this week that they were rushing to get to the U.S. border before the November elections.
