Migrants crowd Colombia's Caribbean coast, seek passage to Mexico, U.S.

Record ID: 1641710

  • Title: Migrants crowd Colombia's Caribbean coast, seek passage to Mexico, U.S.
  • Date: 15th October 2021
  • Summary: NECOCLI, COLOMBIA (OCTOBER 15, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS IN THE STREETS OF NECOCLI NECOCLI, COLOMBIA (OCTOBER 14, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HAITIAN MIGRANT, WILSON MICHEL, SAYING: "If the situation in the Darien [a jungle region in Panama] is dangerous, it is not possible to walk faster. I know that with patience I will arrive without any problems. I
  • Embargoed: 29th October 2021 18:21
  • Keywords: Colombia Mexico U.S.A. immigration migrants
  • Location: NECOCLI + BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
  • City: NECOCLI + BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,South America / Central America,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA004EZ9PZD3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Thousands of migrants crowd the Colombian beach town of Necocli, awaiting their chance to enter Panama and continue their journey to Mexico or the United States.
    Migrants, many from Haiti and Venezuela, are stuck in the northern Colombian beach town of Necocli, awaiting their turn on limited boat transport toward the jungles of the Darien Gap in Panama, where smugglers guide groups through the treacherous region.
    Migrants desperate to continue on their journey embark on illegal, overcrowded boats, increasing the possibility of having an accident.
    Colombian National Army confirmed on Monday (October 11) the rescue of 21 migrants who were travelling in an illegal boat that shipwrecked.
    Colombian and Panamanian authorities are working together to find six other people, three of them children, that were also in the boat.
    "Other people took a small boat which costs $250 U.S. dollars and went in the middle of the ocean, the boat sank, and they died. I understand that 25 people got on that boat that sank," said Fresnoir Sius, a Haitian migrant who has been in Necocli for a month waiting for his turn to travel to Panama and who has a ticket for October 21.
    According to the National Army, 30 people were travelling on the boat to Panama.
    The Colombian Ombudsman, Carlos Camargo, had already warned about the situation on the Caribbean coast of Colombia and had even requested the reinforcement of safety measures in the area.
    The journey migrants have to endure to get to Mexico, or the U.S. is dangerous.
    As they leave Colombian coasts, they arrive at the Darién Gap, a jungle region connecting Colombia and Panama, where they have to walk several kilometres guided by traffickers.
    "If the situation in the Darien [a jungle region in Panama] is dangerous, it is not possible to walk faster. I know that with patience, I will arrive without any problems," Haitian migrant Wilson Michel told Reuters.
    Thousands of migrants travel through Necocli each year, but border closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have increased the number of migrants, overloading the public and social services in town.
    (Production: Henry Esquivel, Herbert Villarraga, Camilo Cohecha, Paul Vieira, Andrea Rodriguez).
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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