Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 1 June 2019

Migrants traverse the deadly last stretch of Darien jungle

By JUAN ZAMORANO fore lodging itself in Bel- to the United States. Va- weren’t relieved of their holds its own perils.
Associated Press lo’s knee. Fellow migrants rela acknowledged the dif- cellphones along the way AP journalists accompa-
BAJO CHIQUITO, Panama helped him the rest of the ficulty of dealing with the — chat with loved ones nied a group of four nar-
(AP) — At first they ap- six-hour journey to Penitas, migrant surge, which has back home. row, wooden boats as they
peared only as weary sil- ferried nearly 50 migrants
houettes emerging from to Penitas. They sat single-
the dense foliage on the file, wearing olive green life
other side of the Tuquesa vests provided by police,
River. packed as many as 13 in
Three women, one leaning each vessel.
on a stick for support, and Javier García, another Cu-
two others carrying their ban, said he had left his
few belongings on their pregnant wife back in Peru
heads accompanied by a and they hoped to meet
2-year-old boy. Two men, up somewhere in Panama.
one carrying a machete, In the heart of Darien, he
arrived soon after to ford had run-ins with several
the waters to safety in this dead bodies, a panther
village, the first populated and robbers who stole $70
place on the Panamani- and his phone.
an side of the unforgiving Just before boarding the
Darien Gap. boat, García made the
After trekking for days from sign of the cross: “We will
Colombia, migrants arriv- see how it goes for us.”
ing at Bajo Chiquito, feel The boat drivers frequently
relief. It’s a place to rest, lifted their outboard motors
seek sustenance, let loved to keep them from collid-
ones know they’re OK and ing with the shallow, rock-
recover their strength. But filled riverbed, steered to-
they’re not out of the woods ward the brush-lined shore
yet, figuratively or literally — in search of deeper waters
ahead lies one last trek to and veered to dodge enor-
safety by boat or by foot, mous tree trunks ripped out
and each option entails its at the roots by previous
own deadly risks for a sud- In this May 25, 2019 photo, a police officer count migrants in a boat that will navigate the Tuquesa flash floods.
river on their way to Peñitas, in Bajo Chiquito, Darien province, Panama.
den and unexpected surge Associated Pressa According to border po-
of thousands of migrants lice, a crowded boat re-
traversing Darien, where where workers applied a left authorities scrambling “I spoke with my relatives, cently capsized after collid-
authorities have almost no bandage to immobilize his to impose order. who are worried,” said Ali- ing with another while mak-
presence and armed men foot and help reduce swell- Simply closing the border oska Peña, a 32-year-old ing the voyage. Fortunately
prey upon travelers. ing in the knee. Sitting on with Colombia would be from Matanzas on Cuba’s nobody died — the water
The most perilous way for- a folding chair and clad “difficult” and wasn’t an northern coast who arrived was shallow at the time —
ward to the next village, in shorts, a tank top and a option, Varela said: “That May 23 with her husband but authorities know that at
Penitas, is overland, hug- single flip-flop, he told The would put the lives of these and 9-year-old daughter. least a dozen migrants, like-
ging the Tuquesa and the Associated Press he didn’t people in jeopardy.” “They asked how we were ly more, have been killed
Chucunaque rivers. Alexis know whether he would During a recent visit by AP, doing.” Migrants com- recently by fast-rising rivers
Bello Vargas, a 25-year-old have surgery to extract the about 1,000 migrants most- plained of a shortage of elsewhere in Darien.
who recently made that projectile. ly from Haiti, Cuba and medicine to treat common A handful of indigenous
trek with his wife, and 12 The alleged attackers were African or South Asian na- maladies such as diarrhea. villages even smaller than
other Cubans can attest detained, but the alarm- tions were in Bajo Chiquito, Men, women and children Bajo Chiquito dotted the
to that. They had already ing incident illustrates the home to some 300 inhabit- bathe and defecate in riverbanks, and the sound
been robbed in the heart of lawlessness of the Darien ants from the Embera indig- the river, which is also the of birdsong was near con-
Darien and, like many who and migrants’ vulnerability enous group. The migrants village’s source of drink- stant. This trip went without
attempt the last stretch to robbery, sexual assault, slept in the wood-siding ing water. In Bajo Chiquito incident, and the migrants
on foot, had no money to illness and the extreme el- and zinc-roofed homes of the migrants also register arrived two hours later to
pay the $25 river voyage. ements. More than 7,300 the locals, paying $3 a day with police for the first time a muddy berth at Penitas.
Just 15 minutes after set- migrants had made the for the privilege, in tents or in the country. About 100 García bought a soda and
ting out from Bajo Chiquito crossing this year through on mats spread out under leave each day for Peni- something to eat.
they were set upon by two mid-April, according to fig- a shed-like structure. tas. A border police official Here they would face an-
men with hunting rifles who ures from border police, on Sitting on the ground, who was not authorized to other wait, along with over
ordered them to stop and pace to be the most since they sipped morning tea discuss the issue and did so 1,000 migrants in an over-
hand over their belongings. a previous surge in 2015- and hunched over bowls on condition of anonymity crowded makeshift camp,
“We kept on walking — we 2016. Authorities did not re- of a milky gruel. On a said most opt to wait for a for buses to the Costa Rican
had nothing because we spond to a request for up- wood plank wall, many place on one of the boats border. But finally Darien
had already been robbed dated numbers. who passed through had — perhaps mindful of the was behind them.
— and they shot us,” Bello Panamanian President scrawled their names and perils of continuing on foot, Nguatem Michael, a
Vargas said. “We had to Juan Carlos Varela said places of origin: “Kamal after having seen death 39-year-old from Camer-
give them our backpacks, last week that at least 4,000 Hossain Bangladesh.” ‘’Ka- and danger elsewhere in oon, said his group was
and they left.” migrants were in Bajo Chiq- maldeeb — INDIA.” Around Darien. ambushed twice in the
One bullet passed through uito, Penitas and in western nightfall a local antenna It’s a wait of about 10 days, Gap. Robbers took their
the leg of a woman who Panama near Costa Rica, caught a signal that let mi- for a trip that takes a cou- money and passports, and
was part of the group, be- the next stop on the road grants — at least those who ple of hours. But the river shot one of the migrants.q