More than 200 migrants departed this Thursday in boats from Miramar, a new exit point to Colombia via the Panamanian Caribbean, as the government still fails to manage a growing migratory flow caused by the anti-immigration policy of the United States. The government stated that so far, about 2,200 migrants have returned, mostly from Mexico in recent weeks. A few days ago, hundreds left from the docks of Cartí, in the indigenous Caribbean region of Guna Yala, heading to the Colombian town of Necoclí in the Gulf of Urabá.
“Our journey is difficult again, they extort us, they rob us. The same story as when you leave Venezuela is to leave Mexico for here,” 31-year-old Venezuelan Francisco, who preferred not to give his last name, told AFP at the dock of this small town in Colón province.
After the sinking of a migrant boat that departed from Cartí, in which a girl died, the indigenous authorities asked the government and international organizations to organize the flow and suspend the massive arrival through their autonomous territory, as they did not have conditions to accommodate so many people.
In a press conference, President José Raúl Mulino said this Thursday that the number of migrants returning from the north, mostly Venezuelans, “is on the rise.” “We are very committed to collaborating, especially with our other neighbor, Costa Rica (…) with all this accumulation of people that we have to help enter Panama with respect to their human rights, etc. (…) 2,200 people have entered from north to south,” said Mulino.
From Costa Rica, where they are detained in a migrant center on the border with Panama, they arrive by bus near the Panamanian docks to take boats, as the humanitarian flights announced weeks ago have still not been carried out. Mulino indicated that Panama is “making very concrete efforts” for the Colombian government to allow Venezuelan migrants to reach the Colombian city of Cúcuta, which borders Venezuela. From there they could enter their country.
It wasn’t possible
On their return, migrants, many without documents, opt for the sea to avoid the dangerous Darién jungle on the border with Colombia, which they crossed when they were heading with the goal of reaching the United States. “Here I go backwards again from a disappointment, (I had) hope of giving a better life for my daughters, but well, it wasn’t possible,” said Venezuelan Darwin González, 46, at the Miramar dock.
Several migrants said that on the return journey they must pay hundreds of dollars in transportation. Just the boat to the Colombian border costs about 250 dollars. “We have spent almost 2,000 dollars more or less to return and economizing. That is, eating only one meal a day, eating bread, soda, cookies,” 44-year-old Venezuelan Milagros Rubio, who travels with three family members, told AFP.
More than 300,000 migrants, mostly Venezuelans, crossed the Darién jungle in 2024. So far this year, 2,633 have passed northward, 96% fewer than in the same period of 2024, according to official Panamanian figures.
