How the remote, roadless Darién Gap became a route for 400,000 migrants
The remote Indigenous village of Bajo Chiquito can only be reached through muddy tracts that are impassable when it rains, or by motorboats light enough to navigate the shallow waters of the Turquesa River.
But over the past five years, this isolated community in eastern Panama has become a busy, often hectic transit point for migrants and refugees from around the world hoping to reach the United States.
It’s the first place that thousands of thirsty and exhausted people encounter as they emerge from the grueling Darién Gap, the roadless and mountainous rainforest that stands between South and Central America.
“It was a terrible journey,” says Jessica Tovar, a Venezuelan woman moving in a group of 17 people that included her husband, her two children, and members of their extended family. She describes crossing rivers with deadly currents and passing multiple lifeless bodies during the trek.
