A dozen lightweight structures and some vehicles were set on fire this Saturday amid a brawl at a migrant shelter in Panama’s Darién jungle that ended with 44 people detained but no victims, the border police reported.
The incidents began early morning due to an argument between two female migrants and led to the burning of modular buildings and vehicles, as well as clashes with police at the shelter located in San Vicente, near the town of Metetí, 180 km east of the Panamanian capital, the National Border Service (Senafront, border police) said in a statement.
“So far, about 44 irregular migrants who participated in these vandalistic acts have been identified and detained and will be investigated and prosecuted before the public ministry for damages to state property,” the agency said, estimating 250 people participated in the fight.
The detained migrants will be prosecuted for the damages to state assets, while police presence in the area continues to locate other participants, said Senafront director Jorge Gobea.
Senafront “has placed more than 40 migrants, men and women, who participated in the destruction of the camps, vehicles and state technological assets at the order of the competent authorities,” he said.
“We maintain operations in the sector to locate the rest of the migrants who participated in this activity seeking to attack and affect state assets,” he added.
The inhospitable Darién jungle, 266 kilometers long and 575,000 hectares in area on the border between Colombia and Panama, has become a corridor for migrants from South America trying to reach the United States.
In 2023, a record of more than 520,000 people crossed this dangerous route. Of those, about 120,000 were minors.
In the first two months of 2024, more than 72,000 people entered Panama by crossing the Darién, a number that exceeds 50,000 in the same period last year. Almost two thirds are Venezuelan, followed by Ecuadoreans, Haitians, Colombians and Chinese.
