“In the hands of God”: One Venezuelan family’s journey to the US; border crossings drop after Title 42 expiry
El Paso, Texas AP When Luis López was lost in Panama’s Darien Gap last year with his wife, then seven months pregnant, their two young children and her grandmother, he often knelt in the mud to beg God not to abandon them. “If I was bad, let me die here, but I came with my […]
Migration through Panama’s Darien Gap spikes despite US plan
Panama City, Panama Reuters The number of people arriving in the treacherous Darien Gap linking Panama with Colombia soared in April and early May, Panamanian government data shows, dealing a blow to US efforts to curb undocumented migration to the north. According to figures from Panama’s Security Ministry seen by Reuters on Tuesday, 40,297 migrants […]
European police arrest more than 100 mafia suspects in drug crackdown
Rome, Italy/Brussels, BelgiumReuters Police across Europe arrested more than 100 people on Wednesday in a massive crackdown that targeted the Italian ‘Ndrangheta mafia, with suspects accused of drugs and weapons trafficking with counterparts in Latin America. “Today’s raids are one of the largest operations carried out so far in the fight against Italian organised crime,” said […]
At least 60,000 minors set to cross dangerous Panama-Colombia jungle gap in 2023, says UN
Panama City, PanamaReuters A substantial hike in children crossing the Darien jungle – linking Panama with Colombia – is expected this year, the United Nations said on Friday, amid a surge in migrants making the dangerous journey to reach the United States. By the end of 2023, more than 300,000 migrants are set to have […]
At least 39 migrants die in bus crash off Panama cliff; dozens of migrants missing off Libyan coast
Panama City Reuters At least 39 have died in Panama after a bus carrying more than 60 migrants fell off a cliff early on Wednesday, the country’s migration authorities said, marking the worst migration accident in the Central American country’s history. The bus, carrying migrants who had travelled through the Darien Gap, a dangerous stretch […]
Migrants arrive in record numbers in Panama in 2022, data shows
Panama City, Panama Reuters Migrants arrived at record numbers in Panama in 2022, the Central American nation said Sunday, with most of them leaving Venezuela and crossing the dangerous Darien Gap region in an attempt to reach the United States. With 248,283 migrants from different countries recorded by Panamanian authorities, the number for last year […]
Darien Gap: On treacherous trek, migrants risk it all for American dream
ANASTASIA MOLONEY, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports from migrant routes passing through the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama…
Doors are closing fast for Cubans seeking to travel
Havana, CubaReuters Cuban Miguel Palenzuela, 52, and his wife Ania have been waiting for a month outside Colombia’s embassy in Havana in hopes of securing a visa to travel through the South American nation. Palenzuela, who commutes almost daily from Guanabacoa, outside the capital, says he would prefer an appointment but the website crashes. Other […]
Cubans frantic to migrate as economy falters, new hurdles arise
Havana, CubaReuters Bray Perez, a 19-year-old Cuban university student, is fast losing friends to a growing wave of migration off the island. “Every time I go home, I find that 10 people have left,” said Perez, who studies in the capital Havana but hails from the nearby farm province of Mayabeque. “It’s hard to get […]
Panama sees massive jump of unlawful migration in 2021
Panama City, PanamaReuters A record wave of unauthorized migrants entered Panama this year from Colombia, according to government data provided to Reuters on Thursday, as a surge of mostly Haitians entered the Central American country in route to the United States. Through mid-December, 126,675 unlawful migrants had entered Panama after crossing the Darien Gap, a […]