US-Bound Migration Plunges 99% Along Panama Jungle Route
In March, 194 migrants mostly from Venezuela, Colombia and Nepal crossed the forests of the Darien Gap into Panama from Colombia.
Photographer: Nicolo Filippo Rosso/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The number of migrants trying to reach the US by trekking through the jungle to Central America plunged 99% in March from a year earlier, continuing a downward trend as Panama President Jose Raul Mulino seeks to close the route.
In March, 194 migrants mostly from Venezuela, Colombia and Nepal crossed the forests of the Darien Gap into Panama from Colombia, down from 408 in February, according to data from Panama’s immigration institute. That’s down from nearly 37,000 in March of last year, and the lowest since borders were shut in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.