Panamanian border police on Wednesday dismantled an organization that smuggled Chinese migrants, allowing a “VIP route” that could more easily cross the inhospitable jungles of Darién on their way to the United States. “We arrested 15 people linked to the crime of illegal migrant trafficking,” said prosecutor Emeldo Márquez. All of those arrested are Panamanians.
The arrests took place in the jungle settlement of Santa Fe, near the town of Metetí in Darién province, a region on the border with Colombia through which thousands of migrants travel on their way to the United States. According to the prosecutor, those arrested were using a “VIP route” that takes less time but for which migrants have to pay more money to the traffickers. It was used mainly by Chinese migrants.
Agents of the border police (Senafront), together with prosecutors, searched several houses and farms and seized a dozen vehicles used by those detained to transport migrants. Some of them are simple wooden houses on the edge of the Inter-American Highway, others in less accessible places, accessible by dirt roads, AFP journalists found. Several had cameras and electronic devices nearby, presumably to warn of the police presence.
The raids also uncovered trucks used to transport migrants, as well as houses with businesses nearby that were allegedly used to launder money from human trafficking. Prosecutor Márquez explained that this organization “operated by charging between $2,600 and $8,000 per person for packages.”
According to the official, the detainees, who work for Colombian gangs from the Gulf of Urabá, helped mobilize more than 700 migrants through Panama. The detainees face prison sentences of 15 to 20 years.
Fast lane
“This crime is part of the actions of transnational organized crime” that takes advantage of “a global phenomenon such as migratory flows” and the “vulnerability of migrants,” said Commissioner Edgar Pitti, head of Senafront in the region. “It is a route called VIP because it allows them to move faster than the route used by the rest of the migrants,” explained Márquez.
This route allows migrants to leave the Colombian cities of Capurganá or Necoclí in the Caribbean and reach the Panamanian towns of Carreto or Caledonia by sea. From there, they embark on a two-day journey into the jungle. Those who choose this route can make the journey by canoe, on horseback or even in off-road vehicles.
The remaining migrants take 5 to 8 days to cross the jungle and reach the Panamanian village of Bajo Chiquito. For this option, according to Márquez, the migrants pay up to $500 per person. From Bajo Chiquito, they travel by canoe to a shelter where they are assisted by Panamanian officials and international organizations. They then continue their journey by bus to Costa Rica.
Help from locals
In 2023, more than half a million migrants passed through this jungle, where they face dangers such as raging rivers, wild animals and criminal gangs that rob, rape and kill.
So far this year, more than 220,000 people have crossed the jungle, mostly Venezuelans, but also Ecuadorians, Colombians, Haitians and Chinese. The number of Chinese migrants crossing the Darién has risen from 296 in the 2010-2019 period to more than 12,000 so far in 2024, according to official Panamanian figures.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, Chinese migrants have greater purchasing power, which allows them to pay the coyotes more for shorter and safer routes. The Panamanian government announced weeks ago that it would close several jungle paths used by migrants. Senafront’s deputy director, Larry Solís, said the coyotes were supported by locals.
