In 2019, 24,000 people crossed the inhospitable Darien jungle that straddles the border with Colombia. More than 4,000 people have made the dangerous journey this year.
Miseney, 37, is one of hundreds of Haitians who — unable to continue the journey north due to the coronavirus pandemic — is stuck in a Panamanian migrant shelter, where violence has exploded in recent days.
Aided by a Costa Rican government that has pursued a humane approach to the crisis, a number of the Nicaraguan arrivals have turned their difficult circumstances into a grassroots movement of sorts.
The detainees were left to the order of the Public Ministry (prosecutor's office), which could prosecute them for the crime of illicit trafficking in persons.
More than 1,500 undocumented migrants who were on their way to the United States are stranded due to the coronavirus pandemic in a jungle area of ​​Panama.
