The Darién plug, the wall of terror that prevents thousands of migrants from reaching the United States of South America in one fell swoop

Tour America from end to end, from Land of firein the extreme south of Argentina, a Alaska, in Northern Canada, is one of the businesses that millions of people have dreamed of. But it is almost impossible to do this. “Darien’s Thorn”, which these days is gaining notoriety for the huge number of migrants who try to cross that dense and sordid jungle on the border between Colombia and Panama, a dangerous and inevitable funnel between South America and Central America, a necessary step to one day reach the United States united.

The figures speak for themselves: in 2021, more than 133,000 migrants from around the world traveling to North America crossed the Darién jungle, exposed to all kinds of dangers, including drug traffickers, organized crime and sexual abuse, a figure more or less equal to that recorded in the entire previous decade.

Another troubling problem: attention to migrants in Panama the crossing of the inhospitable jungle of Darién has deteriorated, according to the organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF), although the Panamanian government assures it provides health care.

“Reception conditions for migrants in Panama’s Darién province are deteriorating,” MSF said in a statement. “We are witnesses of the enormous lack of protection, medical care or basic services, among others, with which the traveling population arriving in Panama is welcomed “, added the institution.

The Pan-American Highway and the Darien Jungle

The Panamericana, a monstrous network of routes, intersections and connections of some 50,000 kilometers that seems to make things extremely easy, does not even allow Argentina to be connected with the United States. It is technically impossible as it is a stretch of almost 130 kilometers where nature says “no”.

It concerns “Darien Gap”on the Colombian-Panamanian border, just the bottleneck of the American continent. There a small piece of jungle becomes impassable and there is no other way than to turn aside and get on a boat or plane to cross it, unless you are really mad.

The Darien region is a mixture of contrasts, from the vast quagmire Atrato from the Colombian side to the peaks of over a kilometer from the Panamanian side. In any case, driving a car or a 4×4 over there is relying on God. Furthermore, the region is also dominated by a protected rainforesthome of many indigenous cultures, which, however, has failed to stop drug trafficking and the spread of other crimes and diseases.

Just as desperation today leads those 130,000 migrants to attempt to cross the jungle of Darién, other adventurous souls have set out in the last century to make the crossing on expeditions. For example, one made in 1960 crossed the Darien Gap in Jeeps and Land Rovers (it took five months at an average of 200 meters per hour) and George Meegan’s 1988 book “The Longest Walk” describes their seven-year journey from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska, including walking the river. Darien.

Thanks to the research following the 1959 expedition, it was possible to contribute to the establishment of the Darién National Park as UNESCO World Heritage Site, so it is difficult to imagine that one day the governments of both countries want to project the continuity of the Pan-American since the territory is legally protected. To make matters worse, there are also some current difficulties linked to the migration issue between the two countries.

Until in recent years famine and the pursuit of their dreams led to migrants attempting to cross that area, it was always said that the Darien Gap was only successfully crossed four or five times. And all those times there is only a verifiable record of a shipment that has passed through it: Between 1971 and 1972 colonel John Blashford-Snell, British and for many “The Last Great Explorer”, he led a team of 60 people in Range Rover on what was the first complete road trip from Alaska to Cape Horn, and yes, also through the Darien. The stretch of route, in fact, called it “the most difficult challenge of his career”.

Today the breach is even more dangerous than it was in the past. The reason? Hunger, suffering and everything that migrants suffer, trying to save their lives in between drug traffickers, guerrillas and the oblivion of the rulers.