Migration through Panama resumes after pandemic lockdown

JUAN ZAMORANO

Associated Press, Feb. 10, 2021
Updated: Feb. 10, 2021 8:08 p.m.

BAJO CHIQUITO, Panama (AP) — After nearly a year stalled in migrant camps at the edge of the jungle, hundreds of migrants have begun to move across Panama and into neighboring Costa Rica in recent weeks.

Panama closed its borders last March to try to slow the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 2,000 migrants suddenly found their years-long journey toward the United States suspended.

But on Jan. 29, Panama announced it was reopening its land borders, setting off a surge of migration through the dense jungle covering the Colombia-Panama border.

On Wednesday afternoon, more than 50 migrants trudged out of the dense Darien jungle into the village of Bajo Chiquito, the first community they encountered after days of walking. Pregnant women, adults carrying babies in their arms and others with bags of clothing balanced atop their heads forded a river and then scrambled up the bank to waiting border police.

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