Human Rights in Panama’s Darien Gap

Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.       

-Universal Declaration on Human Rights, Article 13/14

Last week Quixote Center, together with our partners, Red Franciscana para Migrantes, organized and led a delegation of immigration attorneys, policy experts and human rights defenders to Panama. We traversed the entire length of the country to encounter and understand the migrant experience, beginning with the treacherous Darien Gap.

The migrants and local Panamanians we spoke with detailed extreme levels of sexual violence, extortion, robbery, and murder in the Darien. Children report seeing dead bodies. The local community told us that Columbian cartels control the Darien crossing. They report that the current charge for crossing it safely is up to $1200. Those who cannot pay and emerge alive often lose everything along the way.

People exit the jungle by foot, or by boat if they have the money. Those who can pay immediately jump on government buses to Costa Rica. We heard varying stories about how much its costs, but it seems that the government charges $60 per person, and they pay an additional $30 for someone to go to Western Union to retrieve funds sent by friends and family. Those who cannot find the money get stuck in an overcrowded and unsanitary camp, or they walk up the highway to Costa Rica.

In the weeks before our arrival, there was a fire at the main government reception camp so the 1000 to 2000 people who exit the Darien Gap daily now all have to go to a place called Rajas Blancas, with room for about 200. People exit the Darien are exhausted and traumatized. The camp is an overcrowded tinderbox, in all senses of the word. We were able to drive up and talk with migrants outside the camp, but the authorities did not allow us to enter.

The indigenous community of Bajo Chiquito, located on the edge of the jungle, offers people transportation by boat to Rajas Blancas. They charge $25 per person to cover the cost of gas and boat drivers, and $5 for meals. They say they allow people who don’t have the money to go free. They rent out tent space for those who don’t want to depart immediately. Bajo Chiquito is quite poor and admittedly they benefit from the over 1000 people coming through daily, through infrastructure improvements, commerce, and salaries for those who serve the migrant flow.

We stopped at another community, Zapallel, along the road out of the Darien. Migrants who, for whatever reason, can’t get on the buses and boats, pass by Zapallel. The churches in this community have joined together to provide some basic needs. In the past they provided full meals and shelter but the Panamá government made this illegal for private citizens to provide in 2022. It is also illegal for private citizens to provide transport. They still hand out hygiene kits and bagged lunches on the highway; this was a taste of humanity in a sea of brutality.

Through our partnership with the Red Franciscana, Quixote Center pays for the hygiene kits, which have things like period products and toothbrushes for folks who are left with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

We also visited Medalla Milagrosa, the non-profit shelter that the Red Franciscana organized and operates. Private shelters are mostly not allowed in Panama, but the government made an exception for this one, which provides services for migrants with special needs, usually medical needs. It can house up to 60 migrants at one time. Quixote Center provided funding to help them get started and provides ongoing funds for salaries and to improve shelter conditions.

Red Franciscana partners with and leads a larger consortium of church groups, called RED CLAMOR, that collectively provide a variety of services to migrants who remain in Panama. They told us that it is extremely difficult for migrants to obtain legal status in Panama. One can apply for asylum but they report it costs $2000 per person and takes years to process. After all of that, it could still be denied. In the meantime, people cannot work legally. The vast majority exit Panama and head toward the United States.

We asked several migrants whether they would endure the Darien Gap again if they had a choice. They all said they experienced unspeakable things there and if they could go back in time, they would not choose to do it.

There are alternatives to this sad, dehumanizing, and expensive system. Instead of funding militarized borders throughout the Americas and promoting a narrative of fear, the United States could:

 1. Stop the traffic of weapons from the US to the cartels, which makes life unlivable in numerous countries, including Haiti;

2. Stop the use of economic sanctions that eliminate jobs and livelihoods for regular people (in Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Cuba);

3. Implement work visas. The US depends on immigrant labor. We could devise a system that benefits our country and the sending countries.

The true situation in Panama is not widely known, and our delegation plans to issue a report and to continue working to publicize it through other means.

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