Darien Gap Crossings Decrease by 42% as 300,000 Migrants Make the Journey in 2024

Over 3,00,000 migrants have crossed the Darien Gap into Panama in 2024 as the country’s migration officials said or 42% less than the record number who traversed this dangerous jungle from South America to get to Panama one year earlier.

The increasingly large number of migrants heading north into the treacherous Darien Gap separating Colombia from Panama is part of a greater country in Central America.

Since taking office in July Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino has adopted a more aggressive posture on migration by enforcing penalties, deploying US funded flights to deport people and barbed wire fencing portions of the Darien.

302,203 migrants crossed the Darien last year as per the Panama’s National Migration Service officials which is 42% fewer than the record 520,085 migrants who did so in 2023. As per the records 69% of migrants in 2024 were from Venezuela.

A sustained economic catastrophe in the formerly affluent oil producing country in South America has forced many Venezuelans to escape. 

“We are working every day to ensure that illegal migration does not reach Panama City or the rest of the country,” Mulino said in a speech to lawmakers on Thursday. Mulino went on to say that 1,548 migrants were deported by his government on flights organized under a deal with the US.

However following Venezuela’s contentious July election Panama and Venezuela canceled direct flights allowing 209,000 Venezuelans who had crossed the Darien last year to resume their journey. Experts have cautioned that Panama’s policies might not be effective in the long run since they fail to address the underlying problems that drive migration and could make the trip even riskier.

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