Migration to the United States through the dangerous jungle known as the Darién Gap returned to normal Friday, with hundreds of people from Venezuela, Ecuador and other countries entering the jungle after a pause of about five days in which migrants were unable to begin their journey.
The pause in this ever-increasing migratory flow was the result of an arrest operation led by the Colombian Prosecutor’s Office, in which two captains who were driving boats full of migrants headed into the jungle were taken into custody, where, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, they remain . The office said the captains had transported the people illegally, in part because the migrants did not have the proper documentation.
The captains worked for two shipping companies – Katamaranes and Caribe – which for years have played an essential role in transporting migrants from the community of Necoclí, in northern Colombia, about two hours across a gulf to the entrance to the jungle, which they must then cross to reach get to Central America and finally to the United States. The shipping companies did so openly – something widely documented by the New York Times – and the arrests appeared to signal a change in policy by the Colombian authorities.
But in retaliation for the arrests, shipping companies suspended transportation, and the number of migrants waiting in Necoclí and another exit town, Turbo, quickly grew to several thousand people. This presented a huge challenge for both cities, which do not have the resources or infrastructure to house and feed so many people over a long period of time.
The shipowners’ arrests came after months of pressure from the U.S. government for Colombians to do more to limit or stop migration through the Darién. In a recent interview, Hugo Tovar, a Colombian prosecutor, said that his office is working diligently, with the help of the United States, to investigate and arrest human traffickers.
On Friday, Johann Wachter, secretary of the municipal government of Necoclí, said that the shipping companies decided to resume operations after a meeting between representatives of the shipping companies, local governments, the Colombian National Immigration Office and other agencies, including someone from the US embassy. in Colombia.
During the meeting, Wachter said, representatives of Colombia’s immigration office assured the shipping companies that “there would be no problems” as long as the migrants being transported “met the requirements.” In this case, Wachter said, each person trying to cross the jungle would have to fill out a form on a cell phone application called Secure Transit.
(Officials at the U.S. Embassy and Colombia’s immigration office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.)
The Darién jungle is the strip of land that connects South and North America. You need to cross it to walk to the United States from South America. Once rarely traversed, it has become a major migrant transit route over the past three years, with nearly a million people risking the journey by 2021. This has posed a huge challenge for President Biden, who has seen a number record arrivals at the US’ southern border during his presidency.
The aftermath in Necoclí of shipping companies’ decision to shut down operations after just two arrests shows how difficult it is for U.S. and Colombian officials to stop the multimillion-dollar moving business operating out of the open in northern Colombia. Any attempt to stop it using the law risks having unintended consequences, including the agglomeration of thousands of people in poor Colombian cities who lack the capacity to care for them.
Wachter, for his part, called the resumption of migrant transportation a positive move. “Our capacity is limited,” he said, “so this gives us a lot of peace.”
