Colombia cracks down on Darién Gap crossings
Semafor Signals
Supported by
Insights from The New York Times, The Guardian, and El País
The News
Colombian authorities arrested two boat captains who played a key role in ferrying migrants to the dangerous Darién Gap, a stretch of jungle that thousands have crossed in hopes of traveling onwards to the U.S.
Boat companies suspended migrant crossings to the entrance of the forest following the arrests, The New York Times reported, noting that the law enforcement moves were “sure to be watched closely by U.S. officials” after months of Washington pressuring Bogota to block the route.
SIGNALS
Companies charge huge sums to migrants hoping to cross Darién jungle
A thriving “migration industry” has cropped up in towns near the Darién jungle, The New York Times reported in September, with boat operators charging $40 per head to transport people to the start of the crossing. It found that some of these businesses were being run by local politicians. “Colombian leaders say they can prevent their impoverished towns from being overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of needy people, help the migrants traverse the treacherous jungle more safely — and feed their own economies in the process,” the Times noted.
Migrants boost local economies in Latin America
Most of the migrants who traverse the Darién Gap come from Venezuela, and while the majority are headed for the U.S., those that settle in other Latin American countries have brought considerable economic benefits. Two recent studies found that immigrants boosted the economies of their host nations by as much as 0.25% annually — a number that could rise if migrants were given job opportunities. Migration “is good business,” a Colombian researcher studying Venezuelan migration told The Guardian. “Receiving migrants makes us a better country and allows us to continue growing. It’s as simple as that.”
Migrants pushed to cross jungle as alternatives prohibitively expensive
The number of migrants using the risky Darién Gap to travel towards the U.S.-Mexico border has increased in recent years, following a move from Mexico to limit the number of tourist visas it issues new arrivals. Crossing the Darién isn’t the only path to North America — but it is often the most affordable, El País reported. Ecuadoreans, for example, have paid smugglers as much as $20,000 per person to travel from the nation to Nicaragua’s capital Managua in order to bypass the jungle.
