Migrants crossing the Darien pick up the pace

BAJO CHIQUITO (AP):

Jesús Chávez, a 34-year-old pastry chef from Barquisimeto, Venezuela, arrived in this small village at Panama’s edge of the Darien jungle on Friday.

He was travelling with five others, a mix of friends and family. They had all left Venezuela last Saturday with the goal of reaching the United States.

He said the group had waited in Venezuela for the results of July’s presidential election, but after President Nicolás Maduro was declared winner despite evidence that he had lost, they decided to leave. “We didn’t see any hope,” Chávez said.

They entered the Darien Gap on Tuesday and heard about Donald Trump’s presidential victory while still trudging through the jungle.

“We’re trying to arrive as soon as possible, before January, to see if we have a chance with CBP One,” he said, referring to the US government’s online portal that allows migrants to seek an appointment to request asylum at the border. Trump has said he will end CBP One.

Chávez said they wanted to get to the southern Mexican city of Tapachula where they would be able to access the app.

In Bajo Chiquito, migrants can buy food, rent rooms, hammocks or spaces to set up their tents. There is WiFi and NGOs offering medical care.

Venezuelans make up the majority of migrants passing through, but the group Friday also included people from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Bangladesh.

Through Tuesday, Panama had recorded nearly 289,000 migrant arrivals through the Darien. This is about 38 per cent fewer compared with the same period last year. Sixty-nine per cent of this year’s arrivals were Venezuelans.